'Theft, mismanagement' to blame for municipalities' dire finances
RISE Mzansi says theft and mismanagement of public funds are to blame for the country's municipalities' poor financial health.
Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke released the latest report on the state of municipalities in South Africa on Tuesday.
The report highlighted the dire state of some municipalities - with only 34 of the country's local municipalities achieving clean audits in the 2022/23 financial year.
Maluleke also identified R24 billion in unauthorised expenditure and a trend of non-compliance with legislation, mismanagement of funds, and infrastructure neglect, leading to water and electricity losses.
RISE Mzansi's spokesperson, Gugu Ndima, said the findings of the report were not a surprise.
"The rights and well-being of South Africans and their families are directly and negatively affected by this chronic and systematic failure to meet basic constitutional and legislative obligations by municipalities.
"In the past year, we called for seriously underperforming municipalities, with no prospects of rehabilitation by their own political leadership, to be placed under administration. It is the same local government crisis that has led to various municipalities owing Eskom more than R70 billion, worsening its funding crisis and harming its recovery.
"Due to theft and mismanagement of public funds, our government is running out of money, pays too much servicing debt and not enough on caring for suffering people. It is the local government sphere that bears the brunt of this political catastrophe,” she added.
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