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Johannesburg - Eleven of the 15 municipalities in Gauteng received clean audits in the 2009/10 financial year, but that of the largest, Johannesburg, was still outstanding, premier Nomvula Mokonyane said on Tuesday.
"Operation clean audit has resulted in 11 out of 15 municipalities receiving clean audits," she said on the release of a performance review of Gauteng's local government from 2006 to 2011.
The municipalities which received qualified audits for 2009/10 were Kungwini, Mogale City, and Emfuleni.
Mokonyane said there was "nothing personal, nothing untoward" in the delay in finalising the City of Johannesburg's audit.
It was a result of "to-ing and fro-ing" between the auditor general's office and the city.
According to a progress report prepared by the Gauteng local government and housing department, several programmes had been launched to help municipalities improve their financial management.
"The improved political oversight in financial management through tabling of financial reports on a monthly basis has promoted transparency, good governance and further aligned political goals to available resources," it found.
Gauteng municipalities significantly underspent on capital expenditure over the period.
The capital expenditure budget was R5.7bn, of which R2.3bn, or 40%, was spent.
"The expenditure rate analysis shows that local municipalities experienced challenges in spending their budgets," the report noted.
This was attributed to capacity constraints, non-compliance with supply chain management processes and late receipt of grants and subsidies.
The report acknowledged that there was a shortage of skills.
"Various challenges related to capacity for municipalities to provide services to communities were identified.
"It was established that municipalities did not have adequate staff, especially in critical areas like planning, engineering and finance. This affected their ability to plan for service delivery as well as to manage their finance."
The largest source of revenue for municipalities in the past five years had been charges for municipal services, such as water and electricity.
"Revenue collection still remains a problem due to non-payment of services by some customers."
Mokonyane said she was satisfied with the local government's delivery over the five years.
"Operation clean audit has resulted in 11 out of 15 municipalities receiving clean audits," she said on the release of a performance review of Gauteng's local government from 2006 to 2011.
The municipalities which received qualified audits for 2009/10 were Kungwini, Mogale City, and Emfuleni.
Mokonyane said there was "nothing personal, nothing untoward" in the delay in finalising the City of Johannesburg's audit.
It was a result of "to-ing and fro-ing" between the auditor general's office and the city.
According to a progress report prepared by the Gauteng local government and housing department, several programmes had been launched to help municipalities improve their financial management.
"The improved political oversight in financial management through tabling of financial reports on a monthly basis has promoted transparency, good governance and further aligned political goals to available resources," it found.
Gauteng municipalities significantly underspent on capital expenditure over the period.
The capital expenditure budget was R5.7bn, of which R2.3bn, or 40%, was spent.
"The expenditure rate analysis shows that local municipalities experienced challenges in spending their budgets," the report noted.
This was attributed to capacity constraints, non-compliance with supply chain management processes and late receipt of grants and subsidies.
The report acknowledged that there was a shortage of skills.
"Various challenges related to capacity for municipalities to provide services to communities were identified.
"It was established that municipalities did not have adequate staff, especially in critical areas like planning, engineering and finance. This affected their ability to plan for service delivery as well as to manage their finance."
The largest source of revenue for municipalities in the past five years had been charges for municipal services, such as water and electricity.
"Revenue collection still remains a problem due to non-payment of services by some customers."
Mokonyane said she was satisfied with the local government's delivery over the five years.
