Treasury to get tough on oversight

Over R1.3bn overspent during lockdown

THE KZN treasury is tightening oversight screws after revealing that two months into the Covid-19 lockdown, the 14 provincial departments have spent more than R1.3 billion for goods and services related to the pandemic.

The revelations were made by the province’s MEC for finance, Ravi Pillay, while delivering his R719 million budget for the 2020-2021 period yesterday. He said the R1.3bn figure was last updated on May 15, meaning it may have ballooned since then.

He said some of the money was spent buying protective gear and related equipment, while a large chunk was for Covid-19 infrastructure preparations by the provincial Department of Health. Because it played a key role in the Covid-19 fight, it was the largest spender, sitting at R1.2bn.

It was followed by the Social Development Department, which had spent R51m, while in third place was the Department of Education which had spent R35m – and could need more.

Pillay later broke down the expenditure and said the bill for the departments of health and education was expected to rise.

He said the Health Department still needed more money for doctors in the coming months, while the Education Department needed more money to prepare for the resumption of schooling.

“Then, in regard to health, it would be refurbishing hospitals and buying specialised equipment, some of which would be ventilators. On the infrastructure side, for example, putting up the Royal Showgrounds (in Pietermaritzburg) which we had to transform into an isolation centre or quarantine centre… On the education side will be PPE things, additional classrooms and mobile classrooms… For social development it was food parcels,” he said.

“It must be stressed that the provincial treasury cannot do the procurement itself. Departments remain responsible and accounting officers remain accountable. The treasury has started monitoring expenditure related to Covid-19 by municipalities, public entities and departments. Risks such as the possible purchase of items not related to Covid-19 while using the emergency procurement regulations and instruction notes have been identified,” he said.

He said the province had to guard against internal and external elements trying to exploit the situation.