The finances of most Eastern Cape municipalities are in such a poor state that they cannot calculate how much they are owed in arrears, Business Day reported on Wednesday.
It quoted local government MEC Sam Kwelita as saying only two municipalities out of more than 40 had received unqualified audit reports from the auditor-general.
A significant number had not bothered in eight years to report their finances for an audit by the auditor-general.
Business Day said news of the poor state of municipal finances in the Eastern Cape came barely a week after a similarly dark picture emerged in the Free State.
In the past few weeks, the municipalities in the Western Cape and Mpumalanga have also admitted to poor financial record-keeping.
Reports from these two provinces showed big disparities between the budgeted income of most municipalities and what was actually collected.
Municipalities across the country were owed more than R40-billion, mostly because of the refusal of consumers to pay and the inability of councils to collect what they were owed.
Eastern Cape municipalities were also owed R80-million by government departments.
Kwelita told the portfolio committee on Tuesday that 22 municipalities in the province had not bothered to submit financial statement to the auditor-general.
Of the 36 that had been audited, 10 received qualified reports and 24 had disclaimers attached to the audit reports. – Sapa