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The Democratic Alliance has lamented the gross underspending of R8 billion by critical departments such as the department of police, health and transport.
The opposition party has also called on these departments to be hauled before the joint standing committee on appropriations to account for their underspending and give details on a plausible way forward.
DA member of the standing committee on appropriations, Dennis Ryder, said that this underspending was “indicative of mismanagement and corruption at these departments, which is concerning since they play such a critical role in delivering services, yet they are unable to use the budgets given to them to deliver on their mandates.”
These sentiments came after the national treasury briefed the National Council of Provinces’ joint standing committee on appropriations on Wednesday, and revealed the poor spending by various strategic government departments.
The presentation showed a pattern of underspending in key departments associated with service delivery for the fourth quarter of the 2018/2019 financial year.
Prominent departments on the list were:
• Police (R1.3 billion);
• Health (R966 million); and
• Transport (R640 million)
Other departments who underspent included:
• Cooperative governance and traditional affairs (R3.2 billion);
• National treasury (R1.1 billion); and
• Environmental affairs (R702 million).
Ryder said in order to curtail this trend “these departments need to be summoned to appear before the joint standing committee on appropriations to account for their underspending and detail a way forward”.
“The R966 million underspending at the health department is alarming, given that many of the country’s hospitals are completely dilapidated and have become sites of violence, while KwaZulu-Natal has been hamstrung by the ongoing oncology crisis,” said Ryder.
He added that the most chilling fact “was the comment that national treasury made in the meeting, regarding its concerns with the fact that there was no spending on mental health services notwithstanding the fact that we have recently just experienced the Life Esidimeni tragedy.”
Ryder also said it was bewildering that the department of police underspent by R1.3 billion, when these funds could have “been allocated to curb gang violence in the Cape Flats as well as resourcing police to curb rural crime and violence.”
National Treasury revealed during its briefing to the joint standing committee on appropriations on Wednesday that overall, 24 departments failed to spend 100% of their allocated budget.
“This is a gross disservice to South African citizens. With billions having been underspent, South Africans are receiving the short end of government’s stick,” said Ryder.
