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Auditor General Tsakani Maluleke has issued a call to action to the government to professionalise local government in the country.
The AG was tabling a report before Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Local Government on Wednesday, on the audit outcomes of local government.
In a wide-ranging presentation highlighting continues shortcomings in reporting, she said "We have got to start setting a culture, through leadership, on performance," adding that attention should also be paid to maintaining good organisational and institutional integrity.
"We are issuing a call to action to prioritise local government through a professionalisation framework that has been approved by Cabinet and that, when we look at it, we believe, if implemented, across all three spheres of government and implemented decisively will make a good contribution to professionalising local government."
Maluleke said, "without professionalising, it is going to be difficult to fill vacancies with competent people because professionals want to work in an environment characterised by professionalism."
"If you don't have a professional local government we are not going to turn the tide on paying people who don't know how to do the job, who are not ethical, not turning the tide on this overreliance on consultants," she added.
The Auditor General also called for stability and strength of oversight over local governments, particularly by Councils.
"There has to be attention to ensuring that the MPACs and Disciplinary Boards are equipped and disciplined in executing their functions," Maluleke said.
Meanwhile, the AG said it was urgent for every role-player in the "local government eco-system" to worry about performance information.
She said highlighted the lack of performance-related information in local government's audit reports, saying this information was critical to closing the gap between what Municipalities are supposed to do and the monies they get for it, and what happens on the ground.
"The days of applauding credible financial statements, I suspect are over. We really need to focus now on sorting out this area of performance information," she said.
The AG's report noted that just 38 out of 257 municipalities received clean audit reports in 2022.
