Tshwane coalition slashes wrongful spending

Tshwane has slashed its unauthorised expenditure from R1.6bn in the previous financial year to R634m, says metro mayor Solly Msimanga.

“We are not there yet, but I can tell you that we are indeed making some serious progress,” Msimanga said.

The mayor was speaking in Pretoria during a media briefing on his first year in office.

Unauthorised spending is defined in the Public Finance Management Act as overspending of a vote or a main division within a vote; or expenditure that is made not in accordance with the purpose of a vote; or, in the case of a main division, not in accordance with the purpose of the main division.

When the DA-led coalition took over Tshwane after the 2016 municipal polls, it inherited a deficit of more than R2bn.

Msimanga said the capital city was no longer in the red.

The municipal financial year ended on June 30. The coalition metro council will implement a fully funded budget it has tabled for 2017-18.

Since the coalition took over managing the metro, cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year had improved from R1.1bn in 2015-16, to R2.1bn in 2016-17, Msimanga said.

However, it would not be possible to say whether the metro’s finances would be completely turned around this year because it was receiving less in grants, he said. “It means you have to stretch each and every cent you get to cover the growing demand with less money.”

It was encouraging, the mayor said, that Tshwane had been able to engage Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and Gauteng Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Paul Mashatile on the metro’s housing and infrastructure development plan.

The metro had asked for “much more money” and the MEC and minister were considering the request, he said.

If it received more money, it would get out of debt quicker. Without the extra money, it might take six months to a year.