"Clean audits do not mean that the needs of the people are addressed."
This was the response of the African National Congress (ANC) after the City of Cape Town recently received a clean audit report from the Auditor General.
Nomi Nkondlo, ANC spokesperson on Finance, Economic Development, and Tourism in the Western Cape, said her party had long maintained that clean audits do not equal good governance.
"In the City of Cape Town, even the Auditor-General agrees with the ANC when in her report she says: "For example, the City of Cape Town (Western Cape) has received consistently good audit opinions on performance reporting, yet this does not translate into decent service delivery to all residents within the metropolitan area," said Nkondlo.
She said clean audits do not mean that sewerage is attended to on time, refuse is collected on time, or that municipalities do not charge exhorbitant tariffs for water and electricity to their residents.
She said municipalities, especially DA-run municipalities, must learn that ticking boxes, ensuring that records are kept, and balancing financial statements do not equate to service delivery to all residents.
"These do not ensure that streetlights are working, that people have access to clean water, or that the environment is protected. In fact, clean audits perpetuate inequality in service delivery because you simply repeat what you did last year," said Nkondlo.
But City of Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis said good governance formed the basis for delivering on key priorities; without it, delivery suffers.
"As we see in so many badly-run municipalities around South Africa. Our work is about so much more than just clean audits, we must achieve actual outcomes for residents, and cut red tape where necessary to get it done. Good governance is why the City of Cape Town has among the highest levels of basic service reach nationally, and the highest reach of an indigent support package compared to other metros, for example, according to StatsSA, 27% of city-supplied Cape Town households get free basic electricity on the Lifeline tariff, compared to the Gauteng average of 15.4%," said Hill-Lewis.
He said 40% of households in Cape Town receive water and sanitation services free of charge, compared to the Gauteng average of 15.6% for water, and 17.6% for sanitation.
"Here in Cape Town, unlike in so many other places, the public can rest assured that their money is being well stewarded for broad public benefit, and particularly in service of the poorest residents. We will never allow the mismanagement and corruption that have brought South Africa to its knees to get a foothold here. Wherever we see it, we will cut it out without hesitation," he said.
Hill-Lewis agreed that a clean audit is not the beginning and end of the work of government.
"But excellence in governance and sound financial management is a prerequisite for excellence in delivery for all. It is also a prerequisite for growing public confidence in a government and in a city, province, or country," he said.
Hill-Lewis explained that good governance enabled delivery of the City’s priorities, including ending load-shedding over time, making Cape Town safer, cleaning up waterways and public places, releasing more land for affordable housing, and improving public transport.
"Most importantly, working every day for meaningful economic growth that helps more people into jobs and out of poverty. The city also acknowledges that red tape in public finance legislation is a significant challenge to service delivery. We have proposed a package of reforms to the National Treasury which would streamline service delivery processes," he said.
In her 2021/22 financial year report, the Auditor General, Tsakani Maluleke, said over the term of the previous administration, the City of Cape Town regressed from a clean audit outcome to a financially unqualified opinion with findings on compliance with legislation relating to supply chain management and the prevention of irregular expenditure.
"The metro’s outcome remained unchanged from 2018–19 to 2020–21. We commend the metro on the quality of its financial statements and performance report, which were free from material misstatements," said Maluleke.
She said the metro spent R2.68 billion on repairing and maintaining its assets, valued at R53 billion. At 5% of the value of the assets, the spending was below the norm of 8%. This resulted in the metro not meeting its spending performance target on repairing and maintaining 95% of its assets, which will affect the long-term service delivery potential of these assets.
"The metro continued to face service delivery challenges, and some community concerns were not incorporated into the integrated development plan. We saw instances where container toilets were in an unhygienic state during a recent engagement, and the premier committed to intensify support to municipalities with defective control environments and service delivery challenges," said Maluleke.