Gauteng municipalities are facing intense scrutiny over their financial management practices, with audit failures and questionable expenditure raising concerns about accountability and service delivery. The latest municipal audit outcomes, tabled in June 2026, revealed that only two of Gauteng's 11 municipalities achieved clean audits in 2024/25. This has prompted calls for stronger preventative controls, tighter supply-chain management, and consequence management.
The audit findings have highlighted significant weaknesses in financial management, with six municipalities receiving unqualified opinions with findings, while three were qualified. Gauteng Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Jacob Mamabolo emphasized the need for municipalities to protect public resources and ensure accountability when controls fail. He warned that public resources must be protected, and every municipality must have effective systems to prevent financial losses and identify problems early.
Ekurhuleni is facing questions over R693.7 million in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure recorded over three financial years. The city's 2024/25 Auditor-General findings recorded R42.95 million in irregular expenditure, with the majority attributed to breaches of supply-chain management regulations and the Preferential Procurement Regulations. Some contracts were awarded to bidders based on points for legislative requirements that differed from those in the original invitation to bid.
The Auditor-General's report also found that some contractors and service providers were not monitored monthly as required by the Municipal Finance Management Act. Ekurhuleni reported only about R1.2 million in recoveries over the three years, while indicating that none of the irregular expenditure identified in its latest response had been condoned and no financial misconduct cases had resulted in disciplinary proceedings.
MEC Jacob Mamabolo has called on Ekurhuleni to translate the audit findings into a clear programme of corrective action, including stronger controls, improved accountability, and a sustained improvement in the city's audit outcomes. The concerns extend beyond Ekurhuleni, with Emfuleni and Merafong facing formal government intervention over governance, financial, and service-delivery challenges.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi has identified Emfuleni and Merafong as the two municipalities that require immediate assistance, citing governance, financial, and service-delivery challenges. Emfuleni's financial problems have been accompanied by persistent service-delivery pressures, including sewage spills, potholes, refuse collection, and deteriorating infrastructure. The municipality returned about R640 million in unspent funds to Treasury in 2025.
The financial concerns have also drawn action from National Treasury, which withheld equitable-share transfers from 69 municipalities, including Emfuleni and Merafong, over persistent non-compliance with the Municipal Finance Management Act and related regulations. The funds were released later that month after the municipalities took steps to meet Treasury's conditions.
Key points
- Only two of Gauteng's 11 municipalities achieved clean audits in 2024/25.
- Ekurhuleni faces questions over R693.7 million in unauthorised, irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure.
- Emfuleni and Merafong are under formal government intervention due to governance, financial, and service-delivery challenges.
