With the exception of municipalities in Gauteng and the Western Cape, Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu painted a grim picture for municipalities in other provinces as he presented the local government audit results for the 2018-19 financial year.
Makwetu also praised the Western Cape, as the province with the largest concentration of clean audits, as 93% of its municipalities received unqualified opinions on their financial statements.
"Ten municipalities did not submit financial statements on time - even more than in prior years, which resulted in eight audits not having been completed by the time of the AG's general report," Makwetu said.
The province's irregular expenditure totalled R1.4bn for the year under review, a further R341.6m in irregular expenditure was identified in audits finalised subsequent to the cut-off date for this report, the AG said.
The North West municipalities in the province incurred irregular expenditure totalling R3.7bn with a further R1.8bn relating to audits finalised after the cut-off date for this report.
