For many South Africans, the words “qualified audit opinion” mean very little. They sound like technical accounting jargon that belongs in government reports and municipal boardrooms.
But behind those words lies a reality that millions of people experience every day: taps that run dry, potholes that damage vehicles, refuse that goes uncollected, broken streetlights and neighbourhoods where basic services continue to deteriorate.
The latest municipal audit outcomes for Gauteng should concern every resident. Only two of the province’s 11 municipalities received clean audits for the 2024/25 financial year.
Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, two of South Africa’s largest metros, both regressed to qualified audit opinions. These findings are not simply a reflection of poor bookkeeping. They point to deeper governance failures that directly affect people’s lives.
Finance MEC Nkululeko Dunga argued that audit outcomes should never be seen as numbers on a page. They represent communities where children are exposed to unsafe drinking water, roads remain inaccessible to emergency vehicles and basic sanitation fails the very people municipalities are meant to serve.
Too often, audit reports are released, politicians promise improvement, and the public moves on. Yet year after year, the same problems return.
Irregular expenditure continues to increase, procurement rules are ignored, infrastructure is neglected and accountability remains weak. Meanwhile, residents continue to pay for municipal failures through declining public services.
When a municipality spends money irregularly, it does not automatically mean that money was stolen. However, it does mean that the rules designed to ensure fairness, transparency and value for money were not followed.
Those rules exist to protect public funds because every rand wasted is a rand that cannot be spent repairing roads, upgrading water infrastructure or improving electricity networks.
The effects are visible across Gauteng. Water leaks continue for months before repairs are carried out. Electricity infrastructure fails repeatedly because maintenance has been delayed for years. Illegal dumping grows while waste collection becomes increasingly unreliable.
Businesses struggle to operate in areas where infrastructure is deteriorating, limiting job creation in communities that desperately need employment opportunities.
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect is that we already know improvement is possible. The Midvaal local municipality has maintained clean audits for more than a decade, demonstrating that sound financial management and effective administration are achievable.
While municipalities differ in size and complexity, Midvaal proves that good governance is not an impossible standard. It requires capable leadership, professional administration and a genuine commitment to accountability.
South Africans should also be careful not to celebrate clean audits as though they are the final destination. A municipality can receive a clean audit and still face service delivery challenges.
Likewise, residents ultimately judge municipalities not by audit terminology but by whether water flows from their taps, refuse is collected on time and roads are safe to use. Clean governance should therefore be seen as a means to better services rather than an achievement in itself.
The real concern is what happens when municipalities repeatedly fail to learn from their mistakes.
Every year, the auditor-general identifies similar weaknesses in financial management, procurement and internal controls. Every year, promises are made to address them. Yet the findings continue to repeat themselves. Without meaningful consequences for those responsible, little changes.
South Africans are growing increasingly frustrated, and understandably so. They are paying rates and taxes while watching public infrastructure deteriorate around them.
Communities deserve more than explanations after another disappointing audit cycle. They deserve competent local government that treats public money with the same care expected from every household managing its own budget.
Municipal governance is not an abstract issue reserved for accountants and politicians. It determines whether children have safe drinking water, whether ambulances can reach emergencies, whether businesses can grow and whether communities can live with dignity.
The next time municipal audit outcomes are released, the focus should not simply be on which municipality received a clean audit. The real question should be whether residents can honestly say that their quality of life has improved.
Until that answer is yes, audit failures will remain more than financial shortcomings. They will continue to represent broken promises made to the very communities local government exists to serve.
- Dusani is a graduate in public relations and communications from the University of Johannesburg.
Sowetan
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