In general, many municipalities are stuck in a cycle of unqualified audits and if anything, results have regressed over the years. The sustained non-performance by municipalities has a negative impact on the lives of ordinary South Africans who deserve better.
Simplistically, the Auditor-General checks whether public funds have been used to achieve desired service delivery objectives.
“If one asks the 34 municipalities which obtained a clean bill of health in the last audit what their success recipe is, they point out that it is not rocket science. What is needed is a culture of performance, accountability, transparency, and institutional integrity. Sadly, only 34 of South Africa’s 257 municipalities obtained clean audits in the last cycle, and I’m not sure that we’ll see much change this time around”.
MUBESKO AFRICA consults to several of South Africa’s top performing municipalities and apart from their culture of good compliance and solid governance, Nico lists three key factors which separate the performers from non-performers:
- The separation of powers between the political and administration arms of a municipality, where the former does not unduly influence the latter but works as a team with the common purpose of service delivery.
- The appointment of suitably qualified managers and officials, not only to manage their portfolios in an optimal way but to interpret the Acts and Regulations in a way which protects public funds. Further, the continuous growth and development of employees to ensure continued relevance.
The third factor reflects the sense of pride and purpose of winning municipalities.
“For performing municipalities, achieving a clean audit is non-negotiable. It drives them because they know that non-performance impacts on their ability to deliver acceptable or superior services to their communities, and this can lead to disinvestment and unrest. With national government increasingly reluctant to bail out dysfunctional municipalities, the management of funds is critical.
It would be overly optimistic to expect a big improvement in this audit cycle but one must have hope. My hope is that the 34 performing municipalities grow to 40 or 50 because this will send a signal of hope to others, and service delivery will improve exponentially in those communities”.
Nico de Kock
MD MUBESKO AFRICA
nico@mubesko.co.za
mubesko.co.za
MUBESKO AFRICA provides finance and management consulting services, asset accounting and modelling, and forensic investigation services to the public and private sectors. MUBESKO includes some of South Africa’s top performing municipalities as clients.