Corruption and Governance in Local Government

The Auditor-General’s reports of the last decade have painted a rather grim picture of deteriorating governance at local government level. Municipalities are increasingly racking up huge bills in unauthorised and wasteful expenditure, failing to submit documents required for auditing on time or not at all. The AG’s reports have increasingly hammered on the issue of a lack of accountability for misuse of public funds. 

The SA Local Government Authority has highlighted that at least 66% of councillors have no post-matric qualification as one of the major reasons behind poor governance. However, corruption, party political patronage, and lack of capacity have been highlighted as some of the major reasons for poor performance by municipalities. There has been a change in legislation that gives the AG new powers to go after those implicated in corruption. But will this change anything?