25 February 2009
The Division of the Revenue Bill is becoming better by the day, says
Parliament's Select Committee on Finance Chairperson Mr Tutu Ralane. Addressing
the public hearings on the Division of the Revenue Bill this week, Mr Ralane
said the bill was not as complex as the Financial and Fiscal Commission (FFC)
indicated in its presentation.
The bill provides for the equitable division of revenue raised nationally
among the national, provincial and local spheres of government for the 2009/10
financial year and related matters.
Stakeholders present at the hearings were the Departments of Education and
Health, and the Treasury. The Chairperson requested Department of Education
Director General Mr Duncan Hindle to monitor the use of the additional R2,7
billion allocated to his department to do away with mud school buildings in
provinces. He said the department should report back to Parliament on whether
provinces were spending the money for this purpose.
Mr Ralane, told Treasury and the Department of Health that according to the
Constitution, the government needed to ensure that its limited resources
reached the people. This was in response to a presentation by the Department of
Health Director General Mr Thami Mseleku, who told the committee about the
implications of inadequate funding by Treasury for the department's
comprehensive HIV and AIDS plan. He said "the budget allocated for the
treatment of HIV and AIDS was only available for patients that were already on
treatment and the consequence is that provinces could not afford to add more
patients to their budgets. This would lead to overspending on the health budget
because HIV and AIDS was a priority," said Mr Mseleku.
The Chairperson asked Treasury and the Department of Health to meet and
resolve the issue. He proposed that they should include the Department of
Provincial and Local Government.
While the Department of Social Development was not present to make
presentation, Mr Ralane, ruled that the Department of Arts and Culture should
not make their presentation as it was not in line with what was requested by
the committee.
Issue by: Parliament of South Africa
25 February 2009
