The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has welcomed the release of the Auditor-General’s 2023/24 municipal audit outcomes, highlighting progress in clean audits while warning of ongoing financial mismanagement in nearly half of the country’s municipalities.
According to the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA), 140 municipalities – accounting for 66% of the R575 billion local government budget – achieved unqualified or clean audits, reflecting a notable improvement in public finance discipline. Clean audits increased from 34 in 2022/23 to 41 in 2023/24.
SALGA commended these improvements and praised municipalities such as Midvaal (Gauteng), Cape Winelands, Overstrand, Witzenberg, and Cape Agulhas (Western Cape) for maintaining clean audits since 2016/17. These municipalities are now being seen as models of excellence to be studied and replicated nationwide.
However, 45% of municipalities still underperformed, with recurring fruitless and wasteful expenditure, non-submission of financial statements, and inadequate consequence management remaining areas of concern. SALGA stressed that municipalities must take concrete action to recover funds and prosecute financial misconduct.
The organisation also highlighted the unsustainable municipal debt burden — over R405 billion owed by consumers as of December 2024 — and raised alarm over systemic funding constraints. Despite being responsible for nearly half of government functions, municipalities receive only 9.1% of nationally raised revenue.
SALGA reaffirmed its commitment to support reform through leadership training, digital solutions, and stricter financial oversight, while calling on national and provincial government to resolve structural challenges in the fiscal framework.
“We need to build internal capacity, reduce reliance on consultants, and restore public confidence in local governance,” SALGA said in a statement.
