Social Audits

Social audits are a community-driven process, that uses budgets and other official government documents to monitor the delivery of services and engage with government. Since the first in 2013 more than 15 social audits have taken places across South Africa on issues ranging from water deliver to the fulfilment of social labour plans by mining companies.

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Social Audit Pocket Guides are available on our Guides page

second edition 2020, in English, isiXhosz and isiZulu
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Scaled Up Sanitation Social Audit: City of Ekurhuleni

2018

This social audit covers a number of communities that fall under the same sanitation contract. This scaled-up approach allowed us to move beyond site-specific sanitation problems and to identify common problems with the delivery of outsourced temporary sanitation in Ekurhuleni.

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Thembelihle Social Audit Report

2018

The social audit focussed on the desludging of pits and Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) toilets in Thembelihle, a service that is delivered by Supreme Sanitation (Pty) Ltd. Residents experienced a number of problems with the delivery of this service and decided to collect information through a social audit to enable a constructive, evidence-based discussion with the municipality about how these issues might be resolved.

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Mpukunyoni Social Audit Report: Tendele coal mining

2018

The Mpukunyoni Tendele coal mining social audit reviewed crucial documents to determine whether mine expenditure and service delivery outcomes promised by the mine truly reflected the money spent and the experiences in the mining community.

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Glenmore Ngqushwa Municipality Social Audit Report

2018

This report presents the findings from a social audit following the rural community of Glenmore’s dissatisfaction with a refurbishment project around their sports field. The report establishes if the specifications of the Engqushwa Municipality tender for the Glenmore sports complex were adhered to, or if any deviations were recorded, by the contractor.

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Assessment Report of the Glenmore Sports Facility

2017

This social audit conducted an inspection of the Glenmore sports complex with an objective to establish if the specifications of the Engqushwa Municipality tender were adhered to, or any deviations were recorded, by the contractor.

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Wattville Social Audit Report

2016

This report presents the findings of the social audit conducted in Wattville informal settlement investigating the hiring, delivery and maintenance of chemical toilets in Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality.

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Report on the Spring Valley Social Audit: Water service provision by trucks

2016

This report presents the findings of a social audit in Spring Valley informal settlement, in Emalahleni Local Municipality, following the Spring Valley residents’ dissatisfaction with water service delivery in the settlement.

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Monwabisi Park (Endlovini) Social Audit Report

2016
This report covers the findings of a social audit looking at access to basic sanitation in Monwabisi Park, an informal settlement in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.
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The Schools Social Audit Summit: Gauteng Schools Social Audit Report

2015

This social audit covers the school conditions of 200,000 students in more than 200 schools in over 20 different communities in Gauteng, representing 10% of schools in informal settlements.

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Wolwerivier Social Audit Report

2015

This social audit follows the relocation of a community from Skandaalkamp to Wolwerivier, and articulates the challenges that residents face, in order to help the residents engage with the City of Cape Town.

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Green Point Social Audit Report, Khayelitsha

2015

This social audit investigates whether the tender specifications in the provision of chemical toilets were adhered to, and whether the workers were given the correct training and equipment.

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OUR TOILETS ARE DIRTY: Report of the Social Audit into the janitorial service for communal flush toilets in Khayelitsha, Cape Town

2013

We undertook a week-long social audit on the janitorial service for communal flush toilets in four informal settlements. This culminated in a public hearing where community members asked their leaders the question: why is a highly funded service that could have a major positive impact on people’s lives not being fully delivered?

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Wasteful Expenditure: Report of the Khayelitsha refuse removal and area cleaning Social Audit

2013

This report holds government accountable for refuse collection and settlement cleaning, culminating in a public hearing where community members asked the City of Cape Town why they are paying millions of rands for a service that is not being delivered.

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Report of the Khayelitsha ‘Mshengu’ Toilet Social Audit

2013

A week-long social audit that investigated whether Mshengu Services – a provider of more than 5,000 communal toilets – is delivering on obligations outlined in their contract. The findings suggest that the City of Cape Town is failing to monitor Mshengu and other contractors, leading to wasteful expenditure and human rights violations.

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Social Audits as a Budget Monitoring Tool

2012

This document lays out the main elements of social audits in India and consolidates lessons from the exchange. We hope that it will serve as a resource for other CSOs interested in exploring this methodology.