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South Africa second globally in 2021 Open Budget Index

South Africa has come second in budget transparency globally, with Georgia overtaking both South Africa and New Zealand to claim the first spot in the 2021 Open Budget Index (OBI), conducted among 120 countries by the International Budget Partnership (IBP) through an open budget survey. IBP is the world’s only independent, comparative measure of budget Read more >

Auditor-General: 2020-2021 MFMA outcomes show continuing decline

Capable leaders should demonstrate change by strengthening transparency and accountability. This is the call from Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke, who earlier today tabled the 2020-21 Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) audit outcomes in the National Assembly. The usual five-year comparison period encompasses the entirety of the administration that took office in 2016, with local government Read more >

AG report records improvement, but flags accountability shortfalls

The public health sector is in dire trouble, with its entities being responsible for a substantial amount of the unauthorised expenditure recorded by the Auditor-General of South Africa in its latest report on audit outcomes of provincial and national departments.   Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke briefed the media on Wednesday afternoon, after having tabled the 2020/21 Public Read more >

NW treasury launches action plans for municipalities in financial distress

In a bid to improve the running of municipalities in the province, the North West provincial treasury is rolling out financial recovery plans for 14 particularly troubled entities.  Finance MEC Motlalepula Rosho announced the move in June 2021, while tabling the 2021/22 provincial budget. The targeted municipalities all have serious financial management and capacity challenges.   Read more >

Auditor-general: local government on the brink of collapse

By Kwazi Dlamini Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke has called on leadership at both political and administrative level to make a determined commitment to tackling the scourge of corruption and irregular expenditure in local government. The consequences will be dire otherwise. Delivering her consolidated annual Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) report on local government for the Read more >

Poor planning for Covid-19 relief funds left municipalities vulnerable to fraud

By Kwazi Dlamini  Auditor-General (AG) Tsakani Maluleke continues to raise concerns with the way local governments have handled the Covid-19 relief funds. Maluleke released the third special audit report on Covid-19 related initiatives, together with the 2019/20 Municipal Finance Management Act report – which we cover in an upcoming article – and 43 municipalities were put under the microscope for several reasons.  They include municipalities which contributed the highest amount for irregular Read more >