WHY nobody wants to be in the Free State right now
· The South African
The Free State is South Africa’s worst-performing province at the moment. Citing governance issues and financial failures across virtually all municipalities, the Auditor General’s Consolidated General Report (2024-25) confirms what long-time residents have seen happening for years …
Severe governance failures, financial mismanagement and poor compliance define the province. Long story short, local government in the Free State remains weak across the board. Auditor General’s Tsakani Maluleke notes 57% of municipalities repeated their 2020/21 audit outcomes, while 15% actually regressed further.
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NOBODY WANTS TO BE IN THE FREE STATE
Meanwhile, 39 municipalities (15% of the total) achieved clean audits nationwide. Unsurprisingly, the Western Cape remains as South Africa’s strongest performer. And provinces including the Eastern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West showed only minimal progress. Moreover, the AGSA raises concerns about Gauteng’s performance, especially in light of its economic importance in the country.
However, audit outcomes highlight the Free State’s troubles very clearly. A ‘disclaimed audit’ represents the worst possible result there is. One so bad that auditors do not even have enough evidence to form an opinion on how truly bad things are. As such, the Free State recorded five disclaimed audits this year. Meanwhile, the Northern Cape and North West each recorded one. Three of South Africa’s seven repeat disclaimed audits all belonged to the ANC-run province.
MISSED SUBMISSION DEADLINES
A statue of the late, great Nelson Mandela looks over the capitol of South Africa’s worst governed province. Image: FileSeveral municipalities across the Free State missed submission deadlines entirely. This happened nowhere else in the country. Clean municipal audits have eluded the Free State for over seven years running. As such, some municipalities there have never actually produced one. Moreover, material irregularities point to major financial losses, fraud or serious public harm, warns the AGSA report.
In fact, one-fifth of all material irregularities nationally trace back to Free State audits. The province, alongside Gauteng and Mpumalanga, shows the highest number of municipalities in deficit (spending more money than they are bringing in). Unauthorised expenditure plagues 91% of the province’s municipalities. Likewise, supplier payment delays are the worst in the Free State, spanning 174 days for businesses that depend on municipal funds.
WHO IS TO BLAME?
Of course, opposition parties blame the African National Congress (ANC) on the years of decline. The Freedom Front Plus blames the ANC’s governance culture directly. And the Democratic Alliance (DA) blames political infighting and critical posts sitting vacant. Money is wasted on costly external providers that only compound governance failures further. As such, both parties have called for independent administrators to be appointed immediately.
But what do you think? Does the ANC still have the ability to govern the Free State? Or have years of poor service delivery and crumbling infrastructure driven a wedge between them and the people they were elected to serve? Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments section below …