Overview
- AGSA tabled the 2024–25 municipal audit report in Parliament on Wednesday, June 24, recording R40 billion of irregular expenditure for 2024–25 and a four‑year total of R145.21 billion.
- The eight metropolitan municipalities showed net regression in audit outcomes with the City of Johannesburg downgraded to a qualified opinion and Cape Town slipping to an unqualified opinion with findings.
- The number of disclaimer opinions fell from 29 in 2020–21 to eight in 2024–25 but seven of the eight are repeat disclaimers, highlighting concentrated, long‑running governance failures in specific municipalities.
- Municipal dependence on external consultants has grown to 225 municipalities spending R1.6 billion in 2024–25, a trend AGSA links to persistent skills gaps and weak in‑house capability and oversight.
- AGSA urged professionalisation, coordinated intergovernmental support, stronger consequence management and warned it will use expanded powers where the accountability ecosystem fails, noting weak recovery of losses and continuing service delivery risk.