By Bhekisisa Mncube
Pietermaritzburg – KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance Ina Cronjé says the fiscal austerity measures which were implemented since 2009/10 have borne fruit, as the province was able to repay its overdraft in 18 months as opposed to the three years it was initially planned to take.
Cronjé was delivering her 2013/14 Budget Speech to the Provincial Legislature sitting in Pietermaritzburg today.
Cronjé said the provincial government has been able to manage its R684.929 million budget very well in 2012/13, with the province slightly under-spending by some R453 million (under-spending of 0.5 percent), according to preliminary numbers.
She said to counter the dwindling national tax revenues earmarked for the province; the Provincial Treasury has ensured that it provides for unforeseeable fiscal shocks.
“The province therefore continues to budget for a surplus of close to R1 billion per annum over the next three MTEF years. This will ensure that government programmes remain funded in cases where national tax revenues fall short of the budget in the period ahead”.
When Cronjé took over as Finance MEC in 2009, the province was in the red by over R3 billion due to a myriad of problems, including unbudgeted for special dispensation salary adjustments for a certain class of civil servants. This situation has been turned around.
Clean audit
“The CFO office has facilitated the departmental audit and received three clean audits in the past 3 years, and it is optimistic that the fourth clean audit will be achieved for the 2012/13 audit. All audit issues raised during the previous audit were resolved timorously,” she boasted.
To sustain the clean audit status, the MEC said the Provincial Treasury has commenced with a Trainee Management programme for unemployed female CAs who lack managerial skills. “This is a three-year programme, and its intention is to create a success pool of female CAs,” Cronjé announced.
“Of the 16 provincial departments, only 3 (namely the Provincial Legislature, Health and Transport) over-spent their budget allocations, while the other 13 under-spent. This over-expenditure was fairly minimal though, when viewed as a proportion of these departments’ budget allocations. In fact, two of these departments over-spent their allocation by 0.4 percent (Health and Provincial Legislature), and Transport by 0.1 percent.”
Payment of suppliers within 30 days
The directive from President Jacob Zuma for government departments to pay service providers within 30 days is also well on track. “Departments have performed particularly well in this regard. (93.5 percent payment of invoices within 60 days and 80 percent payment of invoices within 30 days). In comparison it appears that, in the private sector in KZN, 57 percent of invoices are paid in 60 days, with the remainder happening after 60 days.
Dealing with graft, corruption
The MEC said since 2009, 172 requests with a total value of R1.6 billion to be investigated were received. Eighty one of these investigations were finalised, with 25 of completed investigations finalised during 2012/13 at a cost of R24.6 million. More than ninety investigations are still in progress.
On future plans, the MEC said Treasury has a partnership with the JSE on national financial literacy for the youth. “The aim is to give youth a head-start into their financial future by educating them about money, savings and investment – the programme target the youth between the ages of 16 to 35 years.”
In addition, the Treasury will also launch a Young Money Magazine, a financial magazine targeting the youth. This is in line with the Know Your Money – Yazi Imali Yakho newspaper targeting government employees. She also revealed that plans are also underway to launch a financial education pilot study for women and girls in informal settlements, as well as domestic workers. – SAnews.gov.za
