The South African Local Government Association (Salga) said it would meet with mayors and municipal managers of 97 underperforming municipalities to agree on a roadmap to improve their audit outcomes by 2014.

Salga, in partnership with PricewaterhouseCoppers, has identified the municipalities on the basis of their audit outcomes as identified in the Auditor-General’s 2010/11 report, published in July.

The 97 municipalities were made up large of those which received disclaimers for the past three financial years, nonsubmissions or late submissions of financial statements and regressions. These municipalities also have had vacant, acting or suspended CFOs and or municipal manager positions.

Salga said in a statement on Friday that the Auditor-General report painted a picture of “virtual collapse” of financial management in municipalities and raised questions about the competencies of local government.

One of the key reasons for the poor audit outcomes cited by the office of the Auditor-General was the lack of politically driven support to municipalities, it added.

Salga is aiming to achieve unqualified audits in all 97 municipalities by 2014.

“To achieve unqualified audits would require responsible leadership, strong technical interventions and consistent oversight and monitoring by municipalities and all their partners,” it said.