Auditor-general’s message

As we reflect on the year under review and on 115 years of existence, we remain encouraged by our progress in advancing the country’s democratic vision and our strategic aspiration of having a more direct and consistent impact on the lived reality of ordinary South Africans by sustainably and efficiently shifting public sector culture through insight, influence and enforcement.

Tsakani Maluleke

Auditor-General

115 years of impact

The country’s supreme audit institution (SAI), the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA), was established to strengthen constitutional democracy of South Africa through independent oversight, accountability and transparency in the public sector. While auditing and reporting are our core constitutional responsibilities, our purpose extends beyond assuring financial and performance information.

Our responsibility is also to contribute to stronger public institutions, better governance and improved outcomes for citizens. This commitment is reflected in our #cultureshift2030 strategy and aligns closely with the principles of Intosai (International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions)-P12, which recognise that supreme audit institutions create value by strengthening accountability, transparency and integrity; demonstrating ongoing relevance to citizens and stakeholders; and leading by example as model public institutions.

For 115 years, the office has been a trusted guardian of accountability, transparency and integrity in the use of public resources. As we mark this milestone, we are proud of how the office and its people, across the decades, have built and upheld an institution that exemplifies consistent performance excellence, that advances audit insights that illuminate public sector performance (both gaps and opportunities for improvements) and that enables oversight and advocates good governance in the service of a better South Africa for all.

The journey towards a more capable, ethical and performance-driven public sector is neither simple nor linear. However, the lessons gained through the implementation of our #cultureshift2030 strategy continue to strengthen our conviction that meaningful improvements in public sector performance can be achieved when oversight is coupled with influence, when insights are translated into action and when accountability mechanisms are supported by committed leadership across the accountability ecosystem.

Auditing to enable an improved public service

Our #cultureshift2030 strategy recognises that sustainable improvements in audit outcomes and service delivery cannot be achieved through technical competence alone. Rather, lasting public sector reform requires institutional integrity, leadership accountability, effective oversight by the whole public sector accountability ecosystem and a culture of transparency across the public sector.

During the 2025-26 financial year, our strategic aspiration remained clear: to leverage our audit work more intentionally and more effectively to contribute to tangible improvements in the lives of South Africans. This aspiration recognises that the ultimate success of the AGSA cannot be measured solely by the number of audits completed or reports issued. Rather, our success is increasingly reflected in the extent to which our work contributes to improved service delivery, stronger governance practices, enhanced public sector performance and increased public trust in state institutions. This requires deliberate effort to bridge the gap between audit findings and institutional actions.

Throughout the reporting period, we continued to strengthen the foundations required to realise this ambition. A key focus was the enhancement of our audit methodology to ensure that it remains responsive to an evolving environment and increasingly capable of producing high-impact insights. At the same time, we continued investing in the development of our people, recognising that our ability to create value depends on their expertise, judgement and professionalism. Building these capabilities enables our teams not only to identify risks and deficiencies but to generate insights that support meaningful decisionmaking and sustained improvement.

We remain clear that audit outcomes alone do not create change. Real impact occurs when audit recommendations are implemented consistently and when institutions use these insights to strengthen governance, improve financial management, enhance service delivery and build institutional integrity. For this reason, we continue to focus on influencing outcomes rather than merely reporting findings. Our objective is to increase the rate at which audit insights are acted on and translated into measurable improvements across the public sector.

Audit insights that illuminate and enable improved performance and accountability

An important dimension of this work is generating insights in areas that have a direct bearing on citizens’ lived experiences. Metropolitan municipalities and intermediary cities remain central to the delivery of essential public services, while sectors such as health, education, employment, skills development and infrastructure play a crucial role in South Africa’s longterm social and economic development. By directing audit attention to these key sectors, we seek to provide decisionmakers, oversight structures and citizens with a clearer understanding of the factors that enable or hinder effective public sector performance.

Our performance, accountability, transparency and institutional integrity (Pati) framework continues to guide this work. The framework enables us to look beyond compliance and consider the broader institutional conditions that support sustainable success. In so doing, we seek to help public institutions move away from persistent patterns of weak performance, poor financial management and service delivery failures towards a culture of accountability, transparency, strong leadership and institutional integrity.

Through the framework, we analyse and elevate audit insights across all three levels of government to help auditees and their oversight structures to identify financial mismanagement, performance gaps and systemic risks. Using high-quality and targeted audit recommendations, we also elevate auditees’ opportunities for improvement. During the year, we were encouraged to see the uptake of these recommendations increase significantly. The intention is to use the audit cycles to track the implementation of recommendations.

As part of providing the public sector and citizens with value-adding insights during the year, we released a water report. The report aims to empower the country’s entire water value chain to address weaknesses in their respective areas. It enables Parliament, the executives in national and provincial government, councils and mayors of water service authorities to perform their important oversight role.

The report highlights failures throughout the water value chain, including weak planning and oversight, inadequate management of water and wastewater infrastructure and poor water conservation and demand management practices. It also highlights how the material irregularities identified across the water value chain demonstrate the impact of poor financial and infrastructure management on the public and on public funds.

When releasing the report, we were clear that to solve these challenges, capable, accountable and responsive institutions (delivering on their mandates and legislated responsibilities while cooperating across the various government spheres) will be crucial.

Influence towards collective accountability for public sector improvement

During 2025-26, we observed encouraging signs that our strategic emphasis on influencing the whole accountability ecosystem of government towards more responsiveness and participation in working to improve auditee performance is gaining traction. Members of the accountability ecosystem are increasingly engaging with our findings and the insights generated through our work.

Influence tactics that improved responsiveness included continued clarification of roles and responsibilities across the accountability ecosystem, using our audit insights as catalysts for behavioural change, securing leadership commitments for corrective actions and escalating nonresponsiveness.

The improvements we witnessed in 2025-26 (especially auditee leadership responsive and accountability ecosystem member action) suggest a deeper appreciation of the role that independent audits can play in supporting improved governance and performance. They also reinforced the importance of collaboration. Sustainable improvement cannot be achieved by any single institution acting in isolation. It requires coordinated action by oversight bodies, executive authorities, parliamentary committees, provincial legislatures, audit committees, internal audit functions and other participants in the accountability ecosystem.

Going forward, strengthening partnerships and enhancing our ability to influence positive action will remain priorities. Equally important will be our continued commitment to monitoring and measuring the outcomes of our influence work with stakeholders in the accountability ecosystem, so that we can better understand the extent to which our interventions contribute to meaningful and sustained change in the public service.

Enforcing for impact

Our material irregularity process remains one of the most important tools available to drive accountability and consequences. Since the introduction of our enhanced powers, we have steadily built institutional capability to implement this tool effectively. The progress achieved to date demonstrates the value of this tool in addressing material harm to public resources and strengthening accountability for corrective action. However, its longterm success depends on effective collaboration across public institutions and law enforcement agencies. Strengthening these relationships remains a key focus as we continue to leverage this powerful instrument to support better governance and public sector performance.

During the year, 155 material irregularities were issued to prompt corrective actions among auditees. The issuance has yielded notable strategic improvements across a number of auditee environments, proving that the continued and consistent application of our enforcement powers contributes meaningfully to enabling public sector performance culture shifts.

Notable improvements enabled by our material irregularity issuance during the year included the prevention and recovery of financial losses, strengthened auditee internal controls to prevent recurrence of issues, identification of transgressing officials and institution of disciplinary action, and institution of fraud and criminal investigations. These reduced the number of repeat disclaimed audit opinions and improved reporting of fraud to law enforcement for further investigation and potential prosecution.

Enhanced measures to mitigate financial losses, strengthen internal control systems, and facilitate the recovery of funds alleviates fiscal pressures. It also creates additional resources that can be redirected towards service delivery initiatives, reducing the need for increased borrowing. However, the true measure of success lies in preventing financial losses rather than recovering them. We therefore continue to advocate for a proactive approach across the accountability ecosystem to identify and address instances that cause financial loss, and to ensure the prompt recovery of any losses that may be incurred.

These examples reflect improved auditee responsiveness to our tool and demonstrate the impact it can have when used appropriately, auditees respond to it and our accountability ecosystem partners use it for oversight and accountability.

Supporting strengthened SAI impact internationally

Beyond our national responsibilities, the institution continued to play an important role within the global community of SAIs. Our contributions through Intosai, the African Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (Afrosai) and Afrosai-e (English language institutions) reflected our commitment to advancing public sector auditing, building institutional capability and supporting good governance across Africa and beyond. Through our continued support of the Afrosai-e secretariat and capacity-building initiatives, we contributed to strengthening audit institutions across diverse jurisdictions and contexts.

In October 2025, Intosai awarded Afrosai-e the Kimi Makwetu Award during the XXV Intosai Congress, celebrating Afrosai-e’s exceptional contributions to capacity building in public sector auditing. Named after the late Kimi Makwetu, our former auditor-general and chair of Intosai’s capacity building committee (2013– 2020), the award honours institutions that demonstrate outstanding commitment to strengthening the skills, systems and sustainability of supreme audit institutions worldwide.

As part of our international contributions, we were proud to chair the SAI20 engagement platform and host its summit. This engagement group provided an opportunity for the supreme audit institutions of the G20 countries to enhance their relevance and contribution to developing their countries and delivering value and benefit to citizens. By auditing government programmes tied to G20 priorities, the members of SAI20 strengthen policy implementation, transparency and accountability in their countries.

In addition, SAI20 hosting provided opportunities to benchmark our capabilities, contribute to our own internal learning and sharpen our skills to global standard levels. In response to our SAI20 work and the recommendation communique, the SAI20 engagement group reaffirmed its dedication to promoting accountability and transparency in the various countries that it serves. It pledged to use the insights gained from our audit work to help create foresight for their governments, especially as it relates to the SAI20 themes. Lastly, it also undertook to use the learning from the SAI20 engagements to enhance their deliberations on emerging issues and sharing knowledge of good practices in the SAI20 and broader Intosai community.

The year under review also saw us continue our international audits for organisations such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, the African Union Commission, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and the African Organisation of Public Accounts Committees. These international audits reflect improved auditee responsiveness to our tool and demonstrate the impact it can have when used appropriately, auditees respond to it and our accountability ecosystem partners use it for oversight and accountability.

Our international engagements also provide valuable opportunities for institutional learning and capability enhancement. Through our external audit responsibilities and our leadership role within the SAI20 platform, we continue to benchmark our practices against global standards, deepen our expertise and broaden the experiences available to our people. These opportunities not only strengthen our institutional capability but contribute to a compelling employee value proposition in a highly competitive and increasingly global talent market.

Continuing as an impactful institution

The environment in which we operate continues to be characterised by significant uncertainty and complexity. Geopolitical developments, technological disruption, economic recovery challenges, local government elections and the ongoing social realities of poverty, inequality and unemployment all shape the operating context in which public institutions must deliver. These realities require continued agility, resilience and adaptability from the AGSA and the public sector alike. They also reinforce the importance of strong institutions, effective oversight and accountable leadership.

Despite these challenges, we remain optimistic about the role that independent public sector auditing can play in shaping a better future. We firmly believe that public institutions perform better when accountability is strengthened, when transparency is embedded, when integrity is protected and when leaders act decisively on credible evidence and independent insights. These principles continue to guide our work and inform our strategic priorities.

As we look ahead, we remain focused on our constitutional purpose and our strategic aspiration. We will continue to strengthen the relevance, quality and impact of our audit work, deepen our influence within the accountability ecosystem, leverage our enhanced powers responsibly and contribute meaningfully to the advancement of public sector excellence. Ultimately, our purpose is not merely to report on shortcomings. It is to inspire excellence, strengthen constitutional democracy and help build public institutions that consistently deliver value to the citizens they serve. Through the work we do and the example we set, we remain committed to making a lasting difference in South Africa.

Tsakani Maluleke

Auditor-General