Cape Town - Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu has revealed that her department has recorded a R1.8 billion under-expenditure which was returned to the National Treasury in the 2021-22 financial year.
Zulu revealed this when she was responding to IFP MP Liezl van der Merwe asking about the amount returned unspent to the National Treasury and the breakdown of the amounts of each of the provinces.
Van der Merwe also enquired how the under-spending affected the budget available to the welfare programmes in the provinces.
In her response, Zulu said R 1 863 186 000 was underspent by the national department during the financial year under review.
She said R1 824 329 000 was underspent in the social assistance programme.
“The underspending relates to the social assistance grants (old ages and child support grants) for which less than expected beneficiaries have applied and being paid during the financial year,” she said.
However, the minister said the under-spending had no impact on social welfare services as all organisations approved for funding were allocated funds.
A breakdown of unspent funds per provinces:
- Western Cape failed to spend R20.3m;
- North West did not spend R142.1m;
- Northern Cape unspent R60.6m;
- Mpumalanga returned R53.068m;
- Limpopo did not spend R74 255 121;
- KwaZulu-Natal returned R82.255m;
- Gauteng failed to spend R122.991m;
- Free State returned R25 769 317; and
- Eastern Cape failed to spend R120 190 867.
Zulu’s response showed that the Western Cape did not spend R6.290m for specialised vehicles for children with disabilities, R1.549m on sanitary dignity project, R10.306m on early childhood conditional grant and R2.243m on the Equitable Share grant.
She said the province was meant to procure specialized vehicles for the transport of children with intellectual disabilities.
“The delivery of the vehicles did not take place by March 31 2022. It is expected that the adapted vehicles will be delivered by government motor transport within the 2022-23 financial year.”
Zulu also said the service provider in the Sanitary Dignity Project informed the provincial department that the delivery scheduled for March 2022 could not be completed due to the impact of load shedding and the non-availability of packaging.
“The department approved a 60-day extension ending May 31 2022 for the delivery of the outstanding stock,” she said.
In the case of R82.255m unspent in KwaZulu-Natal, the minister said R78.781 million was unspent in the Presidential Stimulus Package.
She also said R1.340m could not be spent on ECD because the department found that the identified centres were non-functional.
“Other ECD centres were found to have previously mismanaged funds and as a result funding was stopped.”
Zulu said the Gauteng provincial department did not spend the additional funds received in the 2021-22 adjustment budget to appoint social workers on a four-month contract.
The province also did not spend on dignity packs due to late finalisation of specifications.
The allocation for the maintenance of ECD centres was also not spent in full as some of the facilities identified for renovation were found to be closed and no longer in operation.
Zulu also said the Gauteng department has applied for the roll-over of unspent funds for ECD Employment Stimulus Relief Fund amounting to R 63.049m.
“This amount will be used to fund commitments not paid by the 2021-22 financial year. The balance of R59.942 million not spent will be surrendered to the Provincial Revenue Funds after the audit process is finalised,” she said.
Cape Times