National Treasury did note that – as at the end of March – almost 30% of the adjusted salary budget had yet to be spent.
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The National Treasury’s statement on local government revenue and expenditure for the last quarter of the 2024/25 fiscal year shows that the municipal budget for salaries was almost a third, at 27.4%, of total operating expenses.
However, the statement also indicates that salaries and wages, including that of Councillors, declined 0.9% between the February and October budgets last year. This was a decline of R1.5 billion at a time when inflation was, on average, 3.6%.
National Treasury did not indicate whether this was due to less staff, although the Auditor-General’s most recent report into municipalities indicated that there were vacancies in key areas such as finance and technical services.
National Treasury did note that – as at the end of March – almost 30% of the adjusted salary budget had yet to be spent.
This could potentially result in a rush to spend the rest of the budget, which could lead to irregular expenditure. The latest consolidated report from the Auditor-General of South Africa covering the 2023/24 financial year showed that only 16% of municipalities achieved clean audits.
The report added that: “The financial health of municipalities remains weak… Money is being lost through non-compliance with legislation and suspected fraud.”
In March, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union expressed “its profound outrage at the ongoing and systemic failure of municipalities to pay workers’ salaries, a crisis that has escalated to catastrophic levels and represents nothing short of economic violence against municipal workers”.
Municipal spending information is contained in National Treasury’s report on local government revenue and expenditure for the third quarter of the 2024/25 financial year. Its report covers the performance against the adopted budgets of local government for the third quarter of the municipal financial year to end March and includes spending against conditional grant allocations for the same period.
Its report, National Treasury said, “promotes transparency in reporting, enhances in-year management and the oversight of the financial performance of municipalities against their adjustments budgets”.
National Treasury said that it functions as a “management tool that serves as an early warning mechanism for municipal councils, provincial legislatures, and municipal management, allowing for effective monitoring and timely improvement of municipal performance”.
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