Senior public officials in particular Heads of Departments and Chief Financial Officers must exercise their responsibilities properly, and ensure that finances in their respective departments are managed in accordance with applicable legislation.
The view was expressed by Gauteng Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe when he presented the 2013 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement and the 2013/14 Adjustment Budget to the Legislature this morning. He emphasised that MECs must hold Accounting Officers (as CEOs of their Departments) responsible for all financial management matters in departments.
“We must restore public’s trust in government, we must demonstrate value for money in all our work, we must improve efficiencies so we could stretch each and every rand that we spend and avoid wastage of public funds,” he said.
“As government we need to work extra hard to eliminate waste and reinforce good governance. We need to be counted amongst the generation that made responsible choices; a generation that was mindful of tomorrow in their action,” he added.
Furthermore, MEC Nkomfe said: “In the last few weeks, both the Premier and the Minister of Finance pronounced that all state credit cards are cancelled. This Treasury has already communicated this message to all departments; I should reiterate that this message also applies to our entities as well”.
In an effort to root out corruption in the payroll system, the province is implementing the Identity Verification System and this has resulted in savings of more than R3 million a month since April this year.
Forensic investigations are currently underway with regards to suspected transactions to the so called ghost workers who operate with impunity and pillage public resources through the payroll system.
Adjustments Budget
In spite of the fiscal constraints that we are facing as government, we fully understand that we must continue to provide effective public services to the people. Therefore the 2013/14 Budget is adjusted upwards from R76 billion to R79 billion.
The key highlights of the adjustment are as follows:
- Department of Education - Additional funds including R454.7 million to improve efficiencies in the management of demand and supply resulting from the rapid increase of learner numbers in the province.
- Department of Health - Additional funds of R618.7 million to provide quality healthcare services in line with the objective of ensuring “A long and healthy life for all South Africans”.
- Department of Roads and Transport - Additional funding of R679 million allocated to deal with maintenance and upgrades of roads, and also to address the operational requirements of Gautrain.
- Department of Finance - Additional resources of R342.2 million allocated for the transitory period from the Gauteng Online to e-Learning Solution.
- Office of the Premier - An amount of R37.5 million has been made available for preparations towards 20 years of our democratic system.
John Sukazi, MEC Spokesperson
Cell: 083 772 4885
E-mail: john.sukazi@gauteng.gov.za
