Over expenditure by KZN Health, Education puts public purse at risk
The Health Department will have to do more to cut down on spending if it is to stay within the budget.
THE Provincial Treasury has been tasked to work with the provincial departments of Health and Education to prepare cost-containment plans after it was revealed that both departments are projecting over expenditure of R1.103 billion and R87.455 million respectively.
Finance MEC Belinda Scott said in an effort to avert the risk to the province’s finances, the provincial cabinet had instructed the two departments to devise credible cost-containment plans to ensure there is no future over expenditure. She said the provinces contingency reserve was insufficient to protect the KZN public purse in the event the two departments overspent their budget at the presented projected levels.
The Department of Health‘s projected expenditure comes in the wake of a whopping R350-million injection granted to it to help reduce its projected R1.1 billion over expenditure in the 2016-17 adjustment budget. The department will have to cut expenditure further, despite the R350-million boost if it is to stay within the budget.
