'Governance crisis in our municipalities is deepening'
JOHANNESBURG - Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Portfolio Committee Chairperson, Zweli Mkhize, has warned of a deepening crisis in local government due to financial ill-discipline and poor governance.
He also said that the latest audit outcomes confirm what the committee has witnessed during its oversight and will have a serious impact on service delivery.
Mkhize gave an update in Parliament on Monday as part of the governance cluster.
He said that the office of the Auditor-General (AG) tabled a report that shows that 59 percent of financial statements submitted for auditing by municipalities contained material misstatements
This despite municipalities having spent more than R1.4 billion on consultants to do the work.
"The latest audit outcomes presented to the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs by the Auditor-General for the 2023/24 financial year confirm what has long been evident from our oversight, that the financial and governance crisis in our municipalities is deepening, with profound consequences for service delivery and public trust."
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