Fin24 reports that according to Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke, there has been no improvement in the audits of SA’s municipalities, with only 41 out of the country’s 257 municipalities receiving clean audits.

She said that compared to five years ago, 61 municipalities had improved their audit outcomes, while 56 had regressed. This showed that her office's interventions to improve financial management were not being taken seriously. The AG said that poor or non-existent record-keeping was again bedevilling many municipalities, who often employed expensive consultants to try to make sense of their financials. She lamented that at times these consultants were employed to do the "very basics," such as VAT and tax returns, even though the municipalities had staff to do that. Consultants were paid R1.26 billion to help improve the financial reporting of municipalities, even though the finance units of municipalities were paid over R10 billion in salaries. The Chris Hani municipality in the Eastern Cape, for example, paid a consultant R34 million for VAT submissions. Maluleke said that 25 municipalities received a disclaimer audit opinion from her office, while nine did not even submit enough information for an opinion to be hazarded. A disclaimer is the worst result a municipality can receive from the AG, indicating that its financial statements have no value.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Cronje at Fin24

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