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Municipalities irregular expenditure up by 75%

Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu
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The Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu’s report shows that irregular expenditure in the country’s municipalities has increased from R16.2 billion to R28.3 billion, up by 75%.

He released the figures in Parliament on Wednesday.

Makwetu says the Eastern Cape is topping the list of defaulting provinces with R13.5 billion, followed by the North West and Gauteng.

He also says the Free State, Limpopo and North West municipalities have not received a single clean audit.

Makwetu however says that municipalities made an effort to be transparent about irregular expenditure.

He says: “We are drawing attention to the vulnerable financial position of municipalities, where 31% per cent of the municipalities, which represent 73 of them disclosed in their financial statements that they might not be able to continue operating.”

“Although they have to continue operating, they are reporting that they are in a vulnerable financial position at the end of the financial year, that was June 2017. Meaning that when they looked at their finances and analyse their financial commitments, as well as those that they are still to make, they find that they are not going to have the necessary cash resources to continue to pay for the things that they ought to pay for.”

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