DA ‘will use state funds for polls’

FINANCE MEC Ivan Meyer has the cash to save the provincial parliament from collapse, but instead plans to put these funds towards next year’s DA municipal election campaign, the ANC alleged this week.

Pierre Uys, ANC chief whip in the provincial parliament, said Meyer last week allocated only R300 000 to the local legislature, which needs R34 million to address staff and operational challenges.

In his medium-term provincial budget allocations last week, Meyer described how millions of rands would be shifted within the provincial government before the end of the current financial year.

Uys said he had concluded that the provincial Treasury had a surplus of R217m.

The national Treasury had recently allocated an additional R337m to go towards paying government salaries.

“The allocation of R337m from national government to the provincial Treasury was for wages. They did not use all of it. They only used R214m. There was a saving of R123m.

“Then they tell me they don’t have money to help the provincial legislature. There’s sufficient money available at the provincial Treasury.”

Uys charged that Meyer was “holding back” on the cash for political motives.

“The DA is building a fund for the local government elections (next year). They will then start dishing out the money,” Uys claimed.

Meyer, however, rejected this. “Unlike the ANC, the Western Cape government does not allocate resources for political reasons.”

He said the R217m surplus was declared to “respond to the constrained fiscal outlook”. It would be saved for shortfalls and expenses in the 2016/17 financial year.

Meyer said R123m of the R337m from the national Treasury would also be used “in the next financial year due to further funding shortages”.

Uys countered: “The surplus is totally wrong. It is out of order. It was to be allocated where needed.”

In August, provincial parliament speaker Sharna Fernandez said they urgently needed R34m to solve a staff shortage crisis, and fix operational matters.

yazeed.kamaldien@inl.co.za