The Democratic Alliance (DA) is celebrating what it calls a resounding endorsement of its record of service delivery excellence, by the Auditor General of South Africa, with 63% of DA-run municipalities achieving clean audits.

On Tuesday, Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke released the 2022/23 consolidated general report on local government audit outcomes, which highlighted that the City of Cape Town is the only metro that managed to achieve a clean audit.

Of the 257 municipalities across South Africa, 34 received clean audits, of which 58.8% were from the Western Cape.

The Auditor-General also commended the City of Tshwane for its improved audit outcome, which the DA said underscored the “stellar work” by Mayor Cilliers Brink to turn around the metro after years of “gross mismanagement” by the African National Congress (ANC).

DA Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs spokesperson Cathy Labuschagne said 19 clean audits proved that DA governments were managing public funds responsibly, “ensuring that every rand is spent in a manner that directly benefits the community.”

“Despite running 13% of municipalities in the country, either through outright majority or coalitions, 63% of DA-run municipalities achieved clean audits. In contrast, with 87% of municipalities in South Africa run by the African National Congress, only 5% managed to achieve clean audits,” explained Labuschagne.

She said the Auditor-General’s outcomes underscored the DA government’s focus on “transparency, accountability, and sound financial management”.

Meanwhile, Western Cape Provincial Minister of Finance and Local Government Deidré Baartman said the results still highlighted the work that needed to be done to ensure sound financial management to improve service delivery within local governments across the Western Cape.

“Clean audits are not merely a measure of good governance and financial management, they also speak directly to service delivery and the improvement of residents’ lives,” added Baartman.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said it was encouraging to see many of the DA’s municipalities managing their finances responsibly.

The Western Cape government also noted Bitou and Oudtshoorn municipalities improving their audit outcomes over the 2022/23 financial year to achieve clean audit outcomes.

The two qualified audit outcomes in Knysna and Beaufort West municipalities, the adverse audit outcome in Laingsburg municipality, and the outstanding audit in Kannaland municipality is a cause for concern, said the Western Cape government.

It highlighted that the continued administrative and political adversity in these municipalities had placed their financial health at serious risk.