_: Minister Lechesa Tsenoli and Deputy Minister Andries Nel of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs today convened their first MinMec meeting with local government MECs and various stakeholders where extensive discussions on the prevailing state of governance, service delivery and the implications of the 2011/12 Audit Outcomes of Municipalities – recently released by the Auditor-General – were held.

Ministers of Cooperative Governance and all the delegates expressed concerns over the recent outcome of the municipal audits and resolved to take stringent measures to implement the Auditor-General’s recommendations.

‘More attention is urgently required to systematically address concerns and recommendations of the Auditor-General which will require consolidation by all spheres of government,’ said the Minister.

The Auditor-General released the 2011/12 municipal audit outcomes this week. The outcomes noted a regression by some municipalities who had received unqualified opinions from the previous audits.

However, the meeting was encouraged to note that 115 municipalities were able to receive unqualified audit opinions in 2011/12 with Gauteng, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal surpassing their 2009 60% targets and achieving 75%, 83% and 74% respectively.

In today’s meeting, Minister Tsenoli and MECs resolved to fast track the appointment of 556 managers in municipalities and demand progress on post audit action plans by municipalities.