Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe has called on African countries to work closely together and continuously share best practices in order to improve the management of public finances on the continent.
“This is crucial for the legitimacy, efficacy and strength of governments going forward. After all prudent financial management is a responsibility that should be discharged, without fail, by all those that have been entrusted to perform this important task,” Nkomfe said.
Nkomfe was addressing a seminar on best practices for finance and budget committees organised by Kenya’s KCA University in Sandton today. The four-day gathering is attended by 70 delegates comprising members of budget and appropriation committees, finance officers, public accountants committees and academics from east Africa.
He said South Africa has come a long way in terms of public finance management reforms over the past 20 years. He explained that prior to the introduction of the Public Finance Management Act, public financial management was regulated through various Exchequer Acts, which were rule driven.
“PFMA replaced the Exchequer Act. The enactment of the PFMA marked the beginning of a period in which fiscal discipline and operational efficiency was emphasised. The other pillar of public expenditure management, allocative efficiency, was strongly emphasised in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework as a budget reform,” Nkomfe said.
These reforms have contributed to stabilising public policy delivery and enhanced macroeconomic stability, and this has supported predictability of funding for policy priorities.
“The policies we have implemented have enabled political involvement in the budget process, turning it into the most important policy process. This facilitates the effectiveness of the medium-term budget framework as a mechanism to link policy making and budgeting,” he said.
In addition, the following has been achieved amongst other things:
- South Africa has a better linkage of policy, spending and delivery. Policy co-ordination between the three spheres of government, while still experiencing challenges, could have been in much worse shape without the reforms we implemented as a country
- Parliament and other non-executive stakeholders in the budget have access to much better information than before 1997. The available information covers more of government and the public sector, it is timelier and its accuracy is improving.
Nkomfe stated that challenges remain, especially in building capacity of public finance practitioners; the provincial government is committed to working with the National Treasury to improve efficiencies in this area.
“We further commit to improve the inter-governmental fiscal relations system and improve financial management practices,” he added.
For more information, please contact:
John Sukazi
MEC Spokesperson
Cell: 083 772 4885
E-mail: john.sukazi@gauteng.gov.za
