Who is going to pay for these Games?

The report in the Courier of October 18 on the Salga Municipal Games was remarkable not for the benefits that will apparently follow, rather for the glaring omission regarding the funding. Who is going to pay the R3,520,000 price tag?

After 10 years, it is KwaDukuza municipality’s turn to host the Salga Games for KZN municipal employees. However, there is no budget for these games since all events have been cancelled because of the country’s declining economy.

According to the Special Exco minutes of the KwaDukuza municipality held on September 23, funding for the games will have to come from a different budget item (savings votes) but transferring funds between budget items for the purpose is against Council policy ( the virements policy), let alone bad accounting practise for a clean audit.

Despite acknowledging that the transfer was against Council policy, the contravention was condoned by the Council. In other words, they have forgiven themselves for using money from other sources to pay for the Games.

The games start on Thursday, December 10, and finish the next day, which means KZN municipal employees have a two day break. They are expecting 7 000 participants. The R3,520,000 is unlikely to be enough to cater for all 7 000 participants (R500 each) which means overspending.

As a ratepayer, I would prefer to see the costs spread with each participating municipality paying R500 entrance fee per employee. As host, KDM would still have to provide free facilities like organisers, security, grounds, transport, electricity/water etc.

FRANK DU TOIT

Ballito