EKURHULENI – The RECORD would like to clarify amounts mentioned in our front page article of last week: ‘Over R200 million wasted’. The amount rolled over was R215.7 million. This means that R14.1 million, which did not roll over, had to be paid back to the Revenue Fund on January 10.
According to Cllr Izak Berg money unspent cannot be seen as money wasted.
“Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality receives a number of grants from both National and Provincial government. It is also common sense that some departments will dump money onto local government to ensure that it does not reflect on their audits as unspent money. This is why IRASA (seconded by the FF+) has forwarded a recommendation, which was accepted by the council that the Head of every department implicated, must forward a full report to their relevant oversight committee, clearly highlighting why they have not spent their grants and what steps were taken to ensure that grants received were spend. IRASA has also requested that, should it be negligence from the department’s side, that performance bonuses be withheld,” Berg explained.
Berg further explains a grant was allocated to the Housing Department (Human Settlements). “But all developers will tell you how long it takes to procure land. The Metro only oversees the housing project on behalf of the provincial government. The housing is a function of the provincial government. Reports by the Head of Departments will highlight the reasons for delays.
“IRASA will rather see monies unspent than spent for the sake of spending it. IRASA stands for that when monies are spent, that it be spent on quality service delivery and there must be value for money,” said Cllr Berg.
Cllr Berg closed by saying. “I can assure the public that no wastage of grants (taxpayer’s money) took place, and IRASA will keep the public updated with reports from the Head of Departments, how the metro can ensure that when money are spent that it is spent correctly (value for money) and for the improvement of the residents of Ekurhuleni.”
Cllr Bruna Huipel added that, “’Wasted’ could possibly be the incorrect word, but take note that services deferred are services denied. A lot of that money which had to be rolled over should have been used to provide houses and other services during this financial year and now people may have to wait another year or more.
“If the R215.7 had already been used, many people could have received houses or other services such as toilets and water.”
The R14.1 million is no longer available. Clr Huipel explains: “We lost this money which could have provided library books and other services. Money that is not spent and has to be returned can be considered wasted. Money that has to be rolled over, although not ‘wasted’ as such, is causing a lot of ‘wasted’ time and effort to get it back.”
Clr Estelle Visser added: “The point is that the grants have not been spent in the same financial year that they have been allocated to the Ekurhuleni Metro Municipality, while there is a shortage of housing. This proves that the EMM is underspending on the budget presented.”
These grants were allocated in the 2012/13 financial year, that runs from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2013, thus the rolled-over amount of R215,7 has to be spent in the 2013/14 financial year that ends on June 30. Reports after the 2013/14 financial year (June 30, 2014) would show whether these grants (rolled-over and other) have been used. The RECORD will keep our readers informed.
