The Auditor-General says four universities reported achieving their objectives in their annual reports without providing credible information, while audit outcomes for another four were still outstanding.

Auditor-General of SA (Agsa) Tsakani Maluleke has found that four universities have reported achievements on objectives that were not supported by credible and reliable information.

This is according to an Agsa report tabled at the portfolio committee on higher education on 11 October.

The four universities are Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU), Sol Plaatje University (SPU) and University of Venda (Univen).

The four obtained unqualified audit outcomes with findings in the 2022/23 financial year, which is one step before a clean audit outcome.

The Agsa report stated that the universities' reported achievements were not aligned with what was initially planned.

Of South Africa's 26 public universities, 18 obtained clean audits.

Maluleke's office said that audit outcomes for the University of South Africa (Unisa), University of Limpopo, University of Fort Hare and Vaal University of Technology were outstanding.

Varsities react

TUT spokesperson Phaphama Tshisikhawe said they acknowledged that in several instances there was a misalignment between the evidence provided against some targets and the performance indicators as recorded in the annual performance reports.

"However, management has put in place rigorous quality assurance measures and controls to mitigate the challenges," Tshisikhawe said.

She said in some...