NELSPRUIT – Security services provided by the government took centre stage during the announcement of the adjustment budget on Tuesday. Mr Madala Masuku, MEC for finance, explained in his speech delivered in the legislature, that the challenges faced by security budgets were hidden for a long time – since 1994. “The security service has been largely underfunded in departments,” he said.
To address this, R262,8 million rand has been allocated to the Department of Community Safety, Security and Liaison to bring its total budget for the year to R1,1 billion. At the same time, the departments of human settlements, public works and agriculture had their budgets cut by R2 million, R17,9 million and R36,3 million, respectively.
Masuku noted that the departments of agriculture and community safety in particular faced a challenge in balancing performance with the allocated budget. He conceded that accruals put significant pressures on the budget.
In October already, provincial treasury had singled out the departments of agriculture, community safety, and health as needing special assistance in helping them balance the books. Health and agriculture were under particular pressure from accruals. That of health amounted to R247 million, while agriculture’s increased by R113 mill in the second quarter, the department reported.
In the adjustment budget, health was awarded an additional R37,5 million to add to its budget. At the beginning of the financial year, the department forfeited R105,9 million due to under spending. Ms Candith Mashego-Dlamini, the MEC, previously appealed to national treasury to return it to her department, but the request has been rejected.
Ms Nombedesho Nkamba, head of the department (HOD) of finance, said a total of R96 million fo the amount had been forfeited. Both Nkamba and Masuku defended the decision to redeploy the former HOD of health, Mr Richard Mnisi, following a report by the Auditor-General into the department’s 2012/13 finances.
Masuku said Mnisi’s new position as the manager of municipal services in the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, was not created for him and it would have been filled by someone from outside if he was not available. “What was supposed to be done, has been done. We dealt with the matter as quickly as possible. The HOD is not there.”
Nkamba’s argument was that the HOD was not the accounting officer in all instances. Instead she suggested that other directors, working under the HOD, would be responsible for the department’s transgressions.
Also listed in the speech as an area placing particular pressure on the budget was the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA). “MEGA has been struggling to find its footing in relation to its new mandate of infrastructure delivery,” Masuku said.
He said the agency needed a lot of advice, especially regarding the legal agreements with municipalities over the province’s bulk water infrastructure programme. “We have agreed that they will have a programme in place in January. They agreed to have the bulk of the work done by then.”
The department with the largest budget, that of education, also received an additional R205,9 million.
