The Auditor General of South Africa’s consolidated audit results for the 2018/19 financial year officially confirms that the Western Cape is once again the top performing province in South Africa.
Furthermore, the Auditor General attributed our success to “effective leadership culture, the implementation of action plans, and established policies and procedures” in the Western Cape.
This is in contrast to the messages given to the eight other provinces and national government with the Auditor General calling for “immediate action to restore government’s accountability to the people of South Africa.”
Key highlights from the Auditor General’s PFMA 2018-19 Consolidated General Report:
- 79% of Western Cape departments received clean audits compared to the next best province, Gauteng, with 30% clean audits and the worst performing, the Free State, with 0% clean audits.
- The Department of Health received a clean audit for the first time. This is also the first time that any Department of Health has received a clean audit in South Africa.
- Of the R1.37bn unauthorised expenditure reported on for the country, no unauthorised expenditure emanated from the Western Cape.
- The Western Cape incurred only R154,000 worth of fruitless and wasteful expenditure, compared to R898,000 in the Northern Cape and the worst performing, the Free State, with R144m.
- The Western Cape incurred only R33m worth of irregular expenditure, compared to R609m in the Northern Cape and the worst performing, Kwa-Zulu Natal, with R12.4bn
| Provincial Departments and Entities (R’ 000) | ||||
| Clean Audits | Unauthorised expenditure | Irregular expenditure | Fruitless and wasteful expenditure | |
| KZN | 24% | 29,610 | 12,473,420 | 30,202 |
| NW | 6% | 35,200 | 3,223,579 | 68,545 |
| NC | 18% | 49,700 | 609,000 | 898 |
| MP | 18% | – | 2,734,220 | 11,271 |
| LP | 11% | 10 | 2,119,850 | 30,311 |
| WC | 79% | – | 33,331 | 154 |
| EC | 25% | 569,300 | 869,200 | 23,060 |
| FS | 0% | 617,600 | 2,578,950 | 144,318 |
| GP | 30% | 5,900 | 7,146,338 | 112,792 |
- In a continued effort to ensure good fiscal management, the Western Cape Government also significantly reduced irregular expenditure in provincial departments from R48.9m to R21.3m. The province also reduced fruitless and wasteful expenditure from R156,000 to R105,000.
These audit outcomes reflect a continued effort to not only prioritise good governance, but also to be constantly seeking to improve in the way we manage provincial finances.
We are proud to have maintained our reputation as the best performing province in South Africa, and we will continue to work hard for those living in the Western Cape.