Metros ‘regress’ as audit outcomes reveal weak financial discipline and service delivery failures (opens original article in a new tab)

Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke highlighted deteriorating audit outcomes for South Africa's eight metros, citing weak financial discipline, service delivery failures, and significant irregular expenditures, with only 39 municipalities achieving clean audits in 2024/25.

• Auditor-general reports concerning regressions in audit outcomes for eight metros, with only 39 municipalities achieving clean audits in 2024/25.
• Metros accounted for 54% of local government expenditure, with 24% of the total budget in regressed municipalities, leading to potential negative impacts on 8.9-million households.
• Joburg metro faces severe financial issues, including insolvency, R3.9bn over expenditure, and R5.3bn owed to Eskom, with poor consequence management and infrastructure backlogs.