Auditor-General Kimi Makwetu says audit outcomes for municipalities have continued to regress with irregular and wasteful expenditure ballooning more than 70% for the 2016/17 year.

Releasing the audit findings of the country’s 257 municipalities at Parliament on Wednesday, Makwetu expressed his disappointment that counsel from his office on administrative lapses had not been implemented.

According to Makwetu his 2016/17 audit findings show that irregular expenditure by municipalities increased 75% to R28.4-billion and that no positive change has been achieved in five years with the same accountability and governance challenges persisting since 2011/12.

Of the audited municipalities, 45 regressed, 16 improved and only 33 municipalities received clean audits.

Makwetu further noted that the financial health of municipalities is at risk due to uncollected revenue from customers. Approximately 31% of municipalities recorded a deficit amounting to R5.6-billion and according to the debt owed by municipalities to their creditors has placed them in a vulnerable position which may affect their ability to operate.

EWN on Wednesday reported that the Free State, North West and the Northern Cape are among the provinces with the worst performing municipalities, while the Western Cape has the highest number of clean audits.