THURSDAY, 11.00AM:
The administrations of Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Province are on the verge of collapse according to the provincial audit report released on Wednesday.
Gauteng, on the other hand, emerged as the best-administered province, with the Western Cape the only other province to be given a relatively clean bill of health.
Serious problems were identified by the 15-member audit team in the Northen Cape and Free State, with lesser problems in Mpumalanga and North-West.
Areas of criticism in the summary report relased on Wednesday were poor financial, information and human resource management systems, shortages of skilled staff and poor discipline and widespread misconduct such as fraud and theft. Also criticised were “political interference” hampering provincial administration, while the centralisiation of functions in provinces was seen as negatively affecting delivery of services.
The damning nature of the report nearly led to it being kept under wraps, with a Cabinet committee deciding last week not to release it. However, lobbying at Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting led to its publication.
Meanwhile, the Gauteng government on Wednesday said it will bail out embattled local councils, some of which “are on the verge of collapse”, and will amalgamate those that have proved to be “non-viable”.
In a statement following Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, the Gauteng government also admitted for the first time that the Greater Johannesburg council is also in financial toruble.
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