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Political intervention needed to save local govt: Maluleke

Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke on Wednesday revealed to Parliament that only 41 of South Africa’s 257 municipalities obtained clean audit outcomes in the latest Municipal Finance Management Act audit outcomes for the 2023/24 financial year – although this is an improvement from the previous reporting period’s 35 municipalities. Furthermore, 99 municipalities obtained unqualified outcomes with findings, Read more >

Public procurement needs a lot of reform, says thorough new report

It is common cause that South Africa’s public procurement framework is long overdue for reform. There are several issues that have vexed procurement practitioners in recent years, such as fragmentation of the various laws, the strain put on the preferential procurement regime, and the urgent need for professionalisation of the sector. These issues, and more, Read more >

Focus and hard work will help improve PFMA audits, says Maluleke

Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke has cautioned the government of national unity (GNU) to prioritise service delivery and enhance inter-governmental planning in its capacities in both the executive and the legislature. Maluleke released the latest audit outcomes for provincial and national departments and entities, governed by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), on 27 November in Read more >

AG to Parliament: local govt is ‘going backward’

South Africa’s municipalities are regressing in terms of their financial reporting; fruitless and wasteful expenditure stands at R7.41-billion – up from R4.89-billion in 2021/22 – while unauthorised expenditure is at R24.12-billion. And only 34 of the 257 that were audited for the 2022/23 financial year achieved clean audits. Delivering the 2022/2023 municipal audit outcomes in Read more >

Professionalise local govt urgently, says Maluleke

Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke addressed the Parliamentary Press Gallery Association last week on the ongoing challenge of compliance, material irregularities (MIs), and responsible financial management. “For the PFMA (Public Finance Management Act) report,” she said, “we identified a total loss of R14-billion. As we speak, R1.29-billion had been recovered.” This staggering loss is counted from 2019, Read more >

R14bn loss to MIs, but some positive strides being made

The Department of Defence and the South African Post Office (Sapo) are two of the public entities expected to face investigations for their failure to investigate material irregularities (MIs) flighted by the Auditor-General (AG) during audit processes in previous financial years. Sapo was found by the AG to have failed to implement an integrated grants Read more >

AGSA seeing improvement in municipalities’ response to MIs

Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke appeared virtually before the parliamentary Standing Committee on the Auditor General on 9 February 2024, to brief members on progress regarding the material irregularities (MIs) it had identified during municipal audits. Maluleke said that the presentation aimed to brief the committee on the impact that AGSA has been making in the implementation Read more >

Billions lost to material irregularities, but Agsa is making progress

The South African government has always had a hard time accepting and implementing the recommendations of the Auditor-General of South Africa (Agsa), and the accompanying lack of consequences has meant that government departments and municipalities still grapple with the basics – 30 years after democracy. But legislative amendments in the form of the Public Audit Amendment Read more >