NELSPRUIT – The provincial government utilised funds from departments which were going to underspend on their budget this year to fund memorial services for the late former president Mr Nelson Mandela in December.
The provincial executive council this afternoon took the time to explain the source of the R70 million the province had spent on the memorial services around the province.
It was reported this week that the R70 million allocated to the premier’s office for the services was taken from provincial departments service delivery budgets.
Not so, said MEC for social development, Ms Candith Mashego-Dlamini. She explained that some of the funds were transferred from certain programmes in the departments in question that were not going to be spent before the end of this financial year.
“No programme is running short on funds as a result (of the appropriation bill that was passed last week).
Some of these funds were sourced from money that was going to go unspent money in departments this year. Read more in the next edition of Lowvelder.
