MBOMBELA – Despite its best efforts to spend money, the Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) continues to underachieve. The parastatal’s fourth quarter performance report shows it spent 97 per cent of its budget while achieving only 44 per cent of its planned targets for 2014/15.
Faring especially poorly was infrastructure development, with not one of its targets achieved in the final quarter of the previous financial year.
The establishment of the International Fresh Produce Market and agri-hubs were only partially achieved, with targets in bulk-water infrastructure and special economic zones indicated as “not achieved” over the year.
In August 2014, Rand Water took over all bulk-water projects which were not at 80 per cent complete from the entity due to its slow rate of delivery.
MEGA spent only 17 per cent, a little more than R1 million, the entire year.
Planning of the market is at 99 per cent and electricity has been installed, with sewage infrastructure at 95 per cent and water infrastructure at 45 per cent.
Targets in housing and business development were also particularly missed. It is the fourth consecutive quarter that MEGA has failed to construct houses and install services infrastructure in Lydenburg’s Extention 6 – due to not having finalised “discussions with human settlements”.
Disturbingly, the report notes that “there are no sufficient viable and bankable agriculture projects” to which it is willing to issue loans; hence it spent only about R7,4 million (40 per cent) of its business development budget for the year.
But in the same report the entity broadly attributes its underachievement to a shortage of money to give loans, capacity challenges, and vacancies. MEGA spokesman Mr Keabetswe Tshukudu explains that less funds than requested were allocated to departments. “Most of these divisions requested amounts which were initially higher than the actual allocations, hence the shortfall on both planned targets and complete utilisation of those budgets.”
Former DA MPL Mr Anthony Benadie, who was the party’s spokesman on economic development, renewed the party’s call for the entity’s disbandment. “MEGA continues to waste taxpayer’s hard-earned money while failing to implement its mandate of providing economic development policies and programmes in the province,” he says. “This is definitely not value for money, and symbolic of the paralysis that has befallen this entity.”
“The slow pace by which MEGA is developing the International Fresh Produce Market is costing emerging farmers potential future revenue they could generate from the market.
Phase 3 for the establishment of the agri-hubs that will feed the fresh produce market has not been achieved as planned, with issues of land size and operational models still not being approved by cabinet.”
Tshukudu says the agency’s new corporate strategy is intended to address these shortfalls through high-impact investments and strategic partnerships with private investors to make itself sustainable in the long term.
“(These) are indicative of MEGA’s commitment to achieving its mandate.” He adds that the turnover of leadership has also posed challenges.
Mr Xola Sithole was appointed new CEO in January, after his predecessor left with a golden handshake before his contract was up and the board was disbanded.
