Govt registers decrease in expenditure

Provincial Government continues to register a decrease in infrastructure expenditure after R2,3 billion, 41,7% of the total budget, had been utilised by 30 September as compared to 44,8% in the same period in the previous financial year and 48,8% in 2017/18.
This was highlighted by Limpopo Director-General Nape Nchabeleng when presenting the provincial economic outlook during the Executive Council (Exco) Budget Lekgotla at Bolivia Estate last Wednesday. He indicated that while all departments projected to break even by the end of March 2020, the straight-line expenditure projections show that institutions are likely to under-spend on their infrastructure allocations. He further stated that as the provincial infrastructure budget is primarily funded by conditional grants representing 80% of the entire budget, failure to spend will have a huge impact on the provincial infrastructure budget allocations and service delivery.
Nchabeleng went on to report that overall provincial infrastructure expenditure in 2016/17 was at 93,9% while 93,9% was recorded in 2017/18 and a marginal increase of 96,9% was achieved in the previous financial year. He further revealed that some of cross-cutting challenges that are not dealt with by departments include an increase of unwanted expenditures, lack of consequence management, increase of contingent liabilities, lack of adherence to supply chain management prescripts, inadequate staffing of chief financial officers’ (CFOs) offices and late payment of service providers.
When delivering the opening address, Premier Stan Mathabatha sent a strong message to CFOs: “If as a CFO you lose a document of a municipality, government department or state entity that would result in that particular institution getting a disclaimer audit opinion you must also get lost. There is no any other reason why there are no records on money spent except stealing. Officials must account for every cent spent. Our budgetary processes should assist us to expand the productive capacity of the economy and to create jobs for our people. We should use the limited resources at our disposal to ensure that we expand our health care infrastructure and provide primary health care services to all our people.”
Mathabatha further emphasised that the legitimate expectation from the people is that the provincial government should use resources prudently to ensure the provision of adequate human settlement to the needy, prioritise the provision of water to the communities, expand education and training opportunities for youth and fight crime and corruption. He added that it was not difficult to utilise resources only for intended purposes. There is simply no room for wasteful expenditure, unauthorised expenditure, fraud and related financial irregularities when dealing with public resources, he stressed.
Mathabatha strongly cautioned that they would act swiftly and harshly against those who divert resources for ulterior purposes or self-benefit. He concluded by saying every single cent must be spent as allocated and in a cost effective manner.

Story/photos: ENDY SENYATSI
>>endy@observer.co.za