Over three-quarters of South Africa’s municipalities had not submitted financial statements for the 2001/02 financial year by September last year, in contravention of legislation requiring they do so.
Some have outstanding financial statements from as far back as the 1999/2000 financial year.
This is according to a report on local government by the auditor general, signed off by Shauket Fakie on May 6 this year and tabled at Parliament on Monday.
”In terms of legislation, municipalities have to submit their financial statements to the auditor general within three months following the end of their financial year on June 30.
”At September 30 2002, the due date for submission, some 242, or 78%, of the 312 municipalities had yet to submit their financial statements for the 2001/02 financial year,” the report states.
The worst offender was the Eastern Cape, where only seven percent of the province’s municipalities had timeously submitted their statements. Best was Gauteng, which had submitted 47%.
Both the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga had outstanding statements from the 1999/2000 financial year, and only one province — Gauteng — was up-to-date for the next (2000/01). – Sapa