JOHANNESBURG - Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, said major cities in South Africa are going backwards in terms of financial governance and service delivery.
Maluleke was reporting findings on local government to Parliament.
While there are some improvements in municipalities overall, she said the metros have regressed.
“Metros are supposed to have the capabilities to help drive economic growth, to drive infrastructure development in a way that's going to expand what we have to deliver services, but also that's going to drive inclusive economic growth that can benefit all of South Africans. And unfortunately, the audit outcomes for this year tell us a distressing story that metros are moving backwards rather than forward," Maluleke said.
Not one received a clean audit in the 2024/25 financial year.
This means Cape Town cannot continue its three-year streak of clean audits.
"The City of Cape Town used to be the only clean audit. They've regressed this year to unqualified with findings due to some compliance matters that they are now dealing with," Maluleke said.
The three biggest metros, Johannesburg, Cape Town and eThekwini, received unqualified audits with findings.
This means they compile financial statements, but are non-compliant when it comes to some laws or regulations.