Honourable House Chairperson,
The ACDP notes the Report of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on the performance of the Department for the 2024/25 financial year.
The Auditor-General laments that of the 257 municipalities across the country, only 41 achieved a clean audit in the 2023/24 financial year, representing just 16% of all municipalities.
The Auditor-General highlighted that the Free State was the worst-run province in the country, with most municipalities in the province being bankrupt as a result of failures in governance, financial accountability and service delivery. 68% of municipalities incurred unauthorised expenditure of some R31.79 billion. Fruitless and wasteful expenditure increased to R17.65 billion over the last three years, with most councils adopting unfunded budgets despite warnings from the Auditor-General not to do so.
The ACDP supports the committee’s recommendations for a thorough skills audit on senior local government personnel and the urgent professionalisation of the municipal workforce.
As Kingdom-builders, the ACDP calls for increased oversight, increased investigation and consequence management with professional support and recovery plan interventions, including public advocacy, because a failure to do so at a municipal level will lead to continued weak financial management, a shortage of skilled personnel, and government failures with unfunded budgets.
The ACDP supports the Report.
I thank you.
