AG Report Shows that the DA Delivers

21 June 2017

The DA welcomes the Auditor General’s 2015/16 municipal audit results which show that where the DA governs, public money is spent on delivering services to the people and is not lost on irregular, unauthorised, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Where the DA governs in the Western Cape province, 80% of municipalities received cleans audits, making the DA-governed province the best performing province in the country. In the City of Cape Town, not a single cent in unauthorised or fruitless and wasteful expenditure was recorded. This is the fourth consecutive clean audit that the City has received.

In Gauteng, Midvaal was the only municipality in the province which succeeded in achieving a clean audit for 2015/16 – this represents 3 years in a row where the DA-run municipality was able to hold on to its clean audit status.

The audit outcomes released today are for the 2015/16 year. The financial year in question ended just before the 2016 Elections. It is clear from the AG-report just how far the ANC had run Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay into the ground before the DA took over on 3 August 2016:

In Johannesburg, R693 million was classified as unauthorised expenditure under the ANC. In Tshwane, the ANC government recorded an amount of R653 million in irregular expenditure. Nelson Mandela Bay recorded an astonishing R1.2 billion in irregular expenditure under the erstwhile ANC government. This highlights the financial mess left by the ANC in those Metros. Each of the new DA-led governments are working hard to root out this irregular expenditure.

More generally and across the country, the following key indicators confirm that ANC municipalities squander vast amounts of public money:

- Irregular spending rose by more than 50% since 2014 to R16,81 billion;

- R12,77 billion in unauthorised spending was identified;

- R901 million in fruitless and wasteful spending;

- More municipalities failed to get clean audits compared to the previous year; and

- Two large municipalities under the ANC, Ekurhuleni and Sedibeng, lost their clean audit status.

These DA financial successes show that we govern in the best interests of our residents, and we spend public money on delivery and on improving lives.

While the ANC has abandoned the people and wasted money that should be spent on improving the lives of millions of South Africans, DA governments will continue to serve the people and carry out the mandate of those who voted us into power.

Issued by Kevin Mileham, DA Shadow Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, 21 June 2017