To the Minister of Cooperative Governance: Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma

Local government in South Africa is failing. According to the latest Auditor General Report, only 19% of municipalities are in good financial health. The majority fail to submit unqualified audits, and basic service delivery failures abound everywhere. 

A key reason given by the Auditor General is a lack of skilled accountants. Yet this country trains and possesses some of the world's best accountants, many of whom are SAIBA members. We understand that should local government fail, our local businesses, including our own, will fail. 

We call on you to deploy us, honourable minister. Our certified, qualified and skilled members are willing to volunteer their time and expertise to turn municipalities around. 

There will come a time when municipal debts will mount and require bailing out that we can't afford. Where service delivery protests will become more common than actual service delivery, and when it may be too late to fix what is falling apart. 

Fire departments have volunteer firefighters, and the police and army have reservists. It's time that government finance departments have well trained, accredited volunteer accountants. 

Deploy us now. Issue a statement calling on municipalities to accept private-sector volunteer help from accredited professionals such as our members. 

No country has ever turned itself around without active citizenry or, indeed, without active accountants.