by Cllr Hasani Shivambu – DA Councillor – Greater Giyani Municipality
| Date: 07 April 2020 |
| Release: Immediate |
| Greater Giyani Municipality has failed to utilise a staggering R29 million of conditional grants allocated to the municipality.
Over R21 million of the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) was underspent. This money was intended to be utilised to complete abandoned projects. According to the mid-year report of the Greater Giyani Municipality, the total amount of conditional grants allocated to the municipality in 2018/2019 financial year was over R76 million. This includes MIG, EPWP, FMG, and INEP grants, but only R47 million of this allowance was spent. This represents only 62% of the budget whilst the underspent from conditional grants ending 31 December 2019 amounted to R29 million. This means that 38% of conditional grants were not utilised by the municiapality. Furthermore, the roll-over application for the 2018/2019 financial year amounted to over R2 million and it was not approved by National Treasury and therefore the money will be transferred to the National Treasury once the adjustment budget has been approved by Council. Ordinarily, the conditional grants are aimed at providing basic services and meeting basic infrastructure needs of vulnerable households but several projects have been abandoned due to lack of effective spending by the municipality. The DA can confirm that the construction of a 4.3 km road from Homu 14B to 14A from gravel to tar has been abandoned since 2018 and formed part of the MIG project. This road comes at a cost of nearly R9 million and the mid-year report indicates that the contractor is progressing very slowly due cash flow challenges This is but one example of an incomplete project where the contractor has disappeared or is facing “cash flow problems”. This is absolutely unacceptable and the people who are the most affected by this are the vulnerable residents of this municipality. The annual municipal report indicates that the municipality incurred R30 million in unauthorised expenditure and that reasonable steps were not taken to prevent this enormous amount .The report further indicates that R9 million was incurred in irregular expenditure due to payments made in contravention of the supply chain management requirements. It was also found that adequate systems and controls were not in place to ensure that all irregular expenditure was accounted for. It is clear that this ANC-led municipality takes the residents of Giyani for granted by failing to adhere to financial regulations and putting their own personal agendas and enrichment of cronies above the needs of residents. The DA urges Mayor Basani Shivhambu to intervene and find out why this money was not properly utilised. We also demand that steps be taken against all officials who were responsible for squandering municipal funds. This money was supposed to be used in a manner which should have improved the lives of residents in this dysfunctional municipality.The people of Giyani deserve better. |
| Media Enquiries |
| Cllr Hasani Shivambu
DA Councillor – Greater Giyani Municipality |