SA’s most poorly run province revealed – and it’s not the one you’d expect

The Auditor-General’s latest Consolidated General Report on Local Government Audit Outcomes for 2023/24 reveals that one of South Africa’s provinces is struggling with governance, financial management, and service delivery.

BusinessTech reports that not a single municipality in the province achieved a clean audit during the review period.

Independent experts, including Professor Daniel Meyer from the University of Johannesburg, confirmed that persistent issues continue to plague local governments.

A clean audit indicates that financial statements are accurate, performance objectives are properly reported, and all relevant legislation is followed.

South Africa’s worst-run province

And according to these findings, the Free State was revealed to be at the bottom of the barrel in terms of worst-run provinces in the country.

The Auditor-General’s report flagged the Free State for widespread legislative non-compliance, poor financial reporting, and weak accountability structures.

In 2023/24, six municipalities in the province failed to submit financial statements for auditing, up from four the previous year. These delays or omissions undermined oversight efforts and stalled necessary interventions.

“Most of the municipalities that repeatedly did not submit their financial statements for auditing, or submitted them late, were in the Free State,” the AG revealed. 

The Auditor-General’s report raised red flags about performance reporting, revealing that 13 municipalities, roughly 76% of those in the Free State, submitted unreliable or unhelpful reports for evaluating service delivery.

The report blamed this on poor planning, weak performance indicators, and inadequate recordkeeping.

It also painted a bleak financial picture: 81% of municipalities had cash reserves to cover operations for just one month or less. Collectively, they reported net losses totalling around R744.98 million for the review period.