eThekwini Municipality mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has reaffirmed that the R1,9 billion grant funding was not forfeited to National Treasury and that the city has been granted approval to roll over R1,6 billion in grant funding.
According to the mayor, in Treasury’s response, they have indicated that they will approve the rollover of the Municipal Disaster Recovery Grant, the Project Preparation Support Grant and the Neighbourhood Development Partnership Grant (NDPG) for the Public Employment Programme.
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Kaunda announced the approval by National Treasury during a full council meeting on Thursday at the city hall.
The unspent funds became a talking point in the past few weeks when eThekwini opposition councillors raised their concerns about the city’s inability to spend grants.
Even though the mayor argued that their concerns were premature, he explained that the funds were only received three months before the end of the financial year, giving the city insufficient time to use it and follow all supply chain management regulations.
Many councillors doubted that the city was going to be able to retain the funds; however, Kaunda said National Treasury approved its request to rollover the grant fund with some conditions.
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Flying in the face of those who were doubting our processes and leadership, National Treasury has responded favourably to our request for a rollover for a conditional grant. We are delighted with the news and we welcome the National Treasury’s approval of the R1,6 billion grant, as it will go a long way to improve service delivery.
“… In a nutshell, this says our efforts have succeeded in persuading the National Treasury of our commitment to spend allocated budgets prudently and wisely to address the challenges faced by the city,” said Kaunda.