Auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke recently engaged aspiring students at North-West University's School of Government Studies on the topic of Bridging the gap between financial compliance and public value in South Africa. In her lecture, she connected academic learning with the real-world working environment, emphasising financial accountability and public value in South Africa.

AG Maluleke illustrated this issue using the example: when water does not flow from a household tap, the gap between legal compliance and daily reality becomes evident. Municipalities may focus on technicalities but often undermine public trust. Repeated service delivery failures undermine citizens' confidence in public service , leading them to seek alternatives to government-supplied services. This decline in municipal revenue further weakens service delivery and increases inequality.

AG Maluleke flagged six reasons, all underpinned to some extent by human behaviour, that lead to a breakdown between what public administration is doing and supposed to be doing versus what public value citizens are deriving from those actions. Those six reasons are: Existence, eligibility, availability of resources, economical procurement of resources, efficient utilisation of resources and effective utilisation of those resources.

"Negligence, incompetence, and unethical leadership not only explain these failures but also contribute to them," she stated.

Audit outcomes reveal systemic weaknesses, and trends over the past five years show that most municipalities struggle with compliance, with limited, often unsustainable improvements in clean audits and overall governance performance. Significant irregular expenditure and declining service delivery continue to persist. The key takeaway is that compliance failures indicate deeper systemic weaknesses that must be addressed to restore public trust.

She explained that poor procurement, inefficiency, and lack of accountability often undermine service delivery, sometimes due to corruption, but also due to poor governance.

Service delivery failures extend beyond broken infrastructure as they impact constitutional rights, dignity, and the very fabric of society. Eroded trust leads people to disengage, putting the democratic system at risk. Public value relies on efficiency, quality, and legitimacy. The key takeaway is that sustainable public value requires more than compliance; it hinges on visible and credible outcomes.

AG concluded by emphasising that while financial compliance is necessary, it is not sufficient and only ethics and accountability can transform the lives of citizens and sustain democracy. She challenged future professionals, stating that "Your work is more than numbers; it is an ethical call to stand for what is right."

Read the speech online