The best managed municipality in Gauteng

Only one municipality in Gauteng has managed to maintain a clean audit opinion since 2019/20, and that is the Midvaal Local Municipality.

This not only makes it the best performing municipality in the province, but also among the top in the country, having achieved the audit results for eleven years in a row.

This is evident from the Auditor General of South Africa’s (AGSA) consolidated report on its review of the financial data of the country’s 257 municipalities.

The Midvaal Local Municipality is part of the Sedibeng District Municipality and is home to 112,254 people and approximately 45,150 households.

Major cities governed by the Democratic Alliance include Meyerton, Randvaal, Daleside, Henley-on-Klip, Walkerville and De Deur.

According to the AGSA, more than 90% of people living in the municipality have access to piped water, 93% have electricity for lighting and 94% have access to flushable toilets.

It has also attracted significant private sector investment, with Sedibeng Breweries, Heineken’s South African distributor, having its national offices there.

In terms of the political makeup of Midvaal LM, the DA has a majority in the council with 30 seats, while other parties such as the ANC, EFF, VF+ and Traditionalist Youth Movement (TYM) make up the rest of the leadership.

Of the fifteen ward councilors, twelve represent the Democratic Alliance, while the remaining three represent the African National Congress.

Of the fifteen councilors with proportional representation, seven come from the DA, three from the ANC, two from the Economic Freedom Fighters, two from the Freedom Front Plus and one from the TYM.

By receiving a clean audit for the eleventh year in a row, it is one of only 25 municipalities to have achieved this result for four or more consecutive years.

This is a significant achievement compared to the accounting opinions of other municipalities across the country.

There are five types of audit results provided by the AGSA. The best result is a clean audit, meaning that no discrepancies are found in an entity’s financial reporting.

Only 41 municipalities (16%) achieved this outcome, which paints a bleak picture of the state of many municipalities in South Africa.

This is followed by a financially unqualified outcome, which contains no material misstatements; However, issues have arisen regarding the entity’s reporting.

Ninety-nine municipalities received these types of audit results.

If a municipality receives a qualified audit result, this means that the AG has determined that its financial reporting contains material misstatements for certain amounts. This turned out to be the case for 90 municipalities.

Due to an unfavorable audit outcome, material inaccuracies were found that are not limited to specific amounts, as was the case with six municipalities.

The final result is a disclaimer of audit opinion, meaning that the entity has not provided sufficient documentation to make an audit decision. Eleven municipalities have received a rejected auditor’s report.

‘A culture of responsibility and strong consequence management’

This was said by Mayor-Alderman Peter Teixeira of Midvaal LM Newsday that the municipality has been able to achieve a clean audit eleven years in a row “by building a culture of accountability and strong consequence management.”

“There is a combination of strong political will from public representatives who sit on the council and are keen to serve the people they represent,” he said.

“The council also places a strong emphasis on hiring highly committed, qualified and capable employees.”

Teixeira explained that leaders, senior managers and staff are held to a high standard, with checks and balances in place to ensure that rates and taxes collected are used to improve service delivery.

He said the council has emphasized that clean audits must translate into tangible services that residents “can feel, touch and see.”

When asked about political stability, he said it has helped maintain systems and policies that enable the longevity of institutional memory.

This has helped the country strengthen its financial leadership processes, internal controls and accountability mechanisms.

“Clean audits are an important part of good governance because they reflect good financial management and accountability for how public resources are used,” Teixeira said.

“However, good governance goes beyond clean audits and financial compliance. Good governance involves a government that engages its residents and responds to their needs.”