Overall State: The 2024-25 Auditor-General report reveals that local government has failed to achieve a turnaround, resulting in unreliable services and failing infrastructure.

Stagnant Outcomes: 57% of municipalities maintained their poor 2020-21 audit outcomes, while 15% regressed.

Rare Clean Audits: Only 15% of municipalities achieved a clean audit, representing a mere 8% of the total expenditure budget.

Failing Metros: None of the metropolitan municipalities achieved a clean audit, despite managing 54% of the total budget and serving 46% of the country’s households.

Severe Financial Distress: 45% of municipalities adopted unfunded budgets, committing to R288.17 billion they do not have.

Flawed Reporting: 76% of municipalities submitted financial statements containing material misstatements.

Massive Revenue Losses: Infrastructure neglect caused R14.73 billion in water losses and R21.63 billion in electricity losses.

Irregular Expenditure: Municipalities incurred R145.21 billion in irregular expenditure since 2021-22, driven almost entirely (87%) by procurement and contract non-compliance.

Zero Accountability: Governance failures are pervasive, with councils frequently writing off irregular expenditure instead of investigating fraud indicators or enforcing consequences.

Wasted Consulting Fees: Despite spending R1.61 billion on financial consultants, 61% of those municipalities still submitted flawed financial statements due to severe internal skills gaps.

Free State & North West: Both provinces recorded a 100% rate of material non-compliance across all municipalities. These provinces also struggle with the highest average number of compliance findings.

Financial Distress: North West (59%) and Free State (52%) have the highest percentages of municipalities with “unfavourable” financial health ratings.

Northern Cape: Follows closely with 97% of municipalities reporting material non-compliance findings.

Gauteng: Notable for significant regressions in audit outcomes among its metropolitan municipalities, severely impacting service delivery for a large portion of the population.

Western Cape:  Continues to demonstrate the strongest adherence to legislation, while the Free State and North West remain the most critically challenged.

Available at: Audit 2024-25