The Select Committee on Finance received a briefing from the National Treasury and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial treasury on the preliminary outcomes of 2017/18 provincial expenditures.
In its presentation, the National Treasury said the remuneration of izinduna (herdman), amounting to R700 million over the 2017 medium-term economic framework has put a strain on the province. This remuneration is an unfunded mandate.
KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance, Ms Belinda Francis Scott, said the province is battling with unfunded mandates. “Izinduna is an unfunded mandate,” said Ms Scott. “Things get passed from national government to provinces in terms of policy, [and] whilst I have no objection to policy changes, please give us the money,” she said.
“We are looking for urgent answers; this is an issue we are battling to resolve without assistance from national government,” she added.
Committee chairperson Mr Charel De Beer said the issue of unfunded mandates must be taken to the relevant committees within treasury, as this will affect the provincial fiscus.
According to National Treasury, KwaZulu-Natal had R4.2 billion in unpaid invoices at the end of 2016/17, with education and health accounting for R2.3 billion. It is unacceptable that government does not pay on time, the committee said, as government policy is that service providers should be paid within 30 days.
One committee member, Mr Motalane Monakedi, said the government would be failing in its mandate if does not pay small-, medium- and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) on time. “Government needs to grow the economy and if you’re not paying SMMEs on time, they will go under. We need to support them to grow the economy.”
Members of the committee also said that the issue of accrual should be examined.
Irregular expenditure in KwaZulu-Natal is at R19.7 billion, with the department of health accounting for R7 billion of this. Committee member Mr Tekoetsi Motlashuping raised his concern with the fact that no one is being held accountable for this problem.
Yoliswa Landu
19 June 2018
Arrange a tour