Where is the Money?
“About 60% of municipalities cannot give evidence to account for the revenue they received. And mostly these are low-capacity municipalities, which means they get their revenue from the national treasury and do not have to collect the bulk of their revenue from the citizens,” – Auditor General Terence Nombembe
This presentation shows what the Auditors Generals office found with regards to Best Practise in terms of the Audit process for Gauteng based Municipalities. It makes for desperate reading. Gauteng is the most capacitated province in the country so it’s frightening that only 21% of municipalities with the province can produce quality financial statements. Presentations for all the provinces can be found here.
One of the first things that have to be in place in any form of organisation is good financial management. Is what is going in municipalities a case of inability to govern properly or unwillingness to govern properly? If municipalities cant keep track of their funds how are they ever going to be able to deal with the backlogs they are mandated to deal with it?
What ever happened to much praised Project Consolidate and its hands on support?
