Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale speaking at the Durban Human Settlements MINMEC (statutory body of the Minister and provincial MECs of Human Settlements) last year in November warned that provinces which were underperforming in the 2012/13 financial year risked having a portion of their budgets taken away due to under-expenditure.
The Minister is concerned that current indications are that some provinces are as the financial year draws to a close in March.
The Director-General Thabane Zulu will this Friday provide the Minister with the very latest expenditure update of all provinces, whereupon Minister Sexwale, having applied his mind, will make his decision known to those affected by under-expenditure including the total amounts concerned.
The Minister said: “Whilst recognising some genuine difficulties confronting provinces such as the absence of bulk infrastructure due to inadequate capital expenditure, a situation cannot be tolerated where flimsy excuses are put forward which stymie delivery to communities.
This malaise is essentially as a result of the combination of two factors, employment of officials and people with little or no experience at all to administer huge human settlement funds at provincial and local level, and the hiring of questionable contractors to participate in large scale housing construction projects. This year we are determined to see the last of this under-expenditure whilst our people remain stuck on growing housing lists.”
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