MLGI launches its compliance index report

The Multilevel Government Initiative of the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights, University of the Western Cape is pleased to announce the publication of the Capable Cities Index: Compliance. The Compliance Index (ComI) is one of three indices that together comprise the Capable Cities Index (CCI).

The Capacity Index was published in early 2015 and the Performance Index will be published in due course. The Coml measures the compliance of municipalities with particular attention on cities. At the most basic level compliance requires that finances are managed in accordance with statutory obligations for municipal finance management and spent only on mandated objectives.

The ComI presents two sets of data. First, there is a composite ranking of all municipalities (categories A, B and C) against three measures of compliance covering the period 2010 to 2014. These measures of compliance are audit standards; misspending due to unlawful, irregular and wasteful expenditure (UIW); and deviation from mandated objectives in budget appropriations. Second, there is a ranking of the 27 major metropolitan municipalities (A) and secondary cities in the country (B1 local municipalities).

The data in the Coml shows that:

· At local government level better audit outcomes tend to correspond to lower levels of UIW expenditure and smaller deviations from budget allocations. Conversely, poor audit outcomes correspond to higher levels of UIW expenditure and larger deviations from budgets.

· Larger municipalities tend to have higher levels of compliance (especially with regards to finances) relative to low category municipalities.

· None of the Free State and North West cities are among the better performing 75 percent of the 27 large municipalities (cities).

· Cities (including metros) tend to have low levels of UIW compared to smaller municipalities. Such a pattern is reflected with regards to the levels of deviation from the approved budget, with 93% of the cities performing better than the national average.

Full Report Here