Hon Deputy Speaker, the ACDP has taken note of the report by the Auditor-General on the state of our municipalities' finances for the 2011-12 financial year.
We applaud the nine municipalities and the eight municipal entities that have attained unqualified audit opinions with regard to their finances and congratulate them on a job well done. If one does the maths, however, it is very clear that our municipalities and their entities are in a state of financial crisis.
The ACDP notes with concern the comments of the Auditor-General that clean audits have remained at the low level of 5% for the past three years and that the overall audit outcomes regressed; 41 auditees improved, but 41 regressed.
This state of affairs cannot and must not be allowed to continue, especially when the total irregular expenditure stands at some R9,82 billion and wasteful expenditure reached R568 million - more than double the previous year.
The ACDP says that this rot must stop. Our municipalities have the power and the authority to set the right tone from the top. If this is not done, ill discipline will permeate the rest of the administration. The ACDP calls for an immediate turnaround intervention to be implemented to stop the rot. If this is not done, Operation Clean Audit 2014 will just be a pipe dream. [Interjections.] [Time expired.]