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<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThere has been no significant, positive change towards credible results; instead, we are witnessing a reversal in audit outcomes,\u201d Makwetu said in a separate statement. Audit counsel in the previous year has largely not been implemented, at best, or totally ignored, at worst, as the audit outcomes reflect the state of governance he had painstakingly cautioned against, he said.<\/p>\n
The audit outcomes of 45 municipalities regressed while only 16 improved, the Auditor-General said. Not only did the unqualified opinions on the financial statements decrease to 61% from 68%, but the financial statements provided to for auditing \u201cwere even worse than in the previous year,\u201d with only 22% of councils able to provide statements \u201cwithout material misstatements,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Of the 257 municipalities reviewed, only 33 received a clean audit. No municipality in the Free State, Limpopo and North West provinces received clean audits. Material non-compliance with key legislation was evident in 86% of the councils, the highest percentage since 2012-13.<\/p>\n Fruitless and wasteful expenditure has almost tripled since 2013-14 to R1.5 billion. In one instance, a municipality incurred R164 million of this spending on a water project that had to be redone from the start by the Department of Water Affairs because of substandard work, the Auditor-General said.<\/p>\n Some South African cities are \u201con the brink of collapse\u201d and need to be pulled back from the cusp of financial ruin, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene said in April. Slow economic growth and years of mismanagement at some state companies and municipalities have weighed on government revenue and stretched the nation\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n Delinquent cities owe utility companies such as power provider Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. billions of rand, worsening their ability to deliver services.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n