The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo is worried that numerous Provincial Government Departments are at risk of underspending their allocated budgets due to slow spending.
A National Treasury Gazette detailing budget receipts and expenditure for provinces till the end of the 3rd quarter indicates that many of Limpopo’s Departments might end up underspending their allocated budgets.
This slow spending is of great concern as it may result in the Provincial Departments having to surrender funds back to the National Treasury, seeking a rollover or fiscal dumping by the Departments in order not to lose the underspent funds.
The Limpopo Department of Health has only used 69.2% of its R23.227 billion adjusted budget despite struggling to address issues such as poor infrastructure in the province’s healthcare facilities, limited bed space as well as staff shortages.
Other departments in the province have also been slow to spend their allocated budgets:
- Public Works, Roads and infrastructure has only used 59.2% of its allocated R3.530 billion
- Transport and Community Safety has used 67.7% of its R2.218 billion budget
- Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs has only utilised 65.5% of R2.243 Billion
- Sport Art and Culture has used 64.3% of the allocated R428.479 million
- Agriculture has only used 67.8% of the allocated R 1.698 billion
All these department should be closer to having utilised 75% of their budgets by the end of the 3rd quarter. Underspending may negatively affect key programmes within these departments and lead to fiscal dumping which results in money not being used for the intended programmes.
The slow spending is a serious concern and the Limpopo Provincial Treasury must monitor to ensure that no underspend is incurred by any of these departments by the end of the financial year. We are cognizant of the fact that factors such as the impact of delays due to Covid-19 and lockdowns, reduced payment for goods and services as well as projects and activities in department programmes that are only planned for the fourth quarter may have also contributed to the slow spending.
The DA believes that underspending by Provincial Departments will affect the quality of services offered to the people of Limpopo and negatively affect the development and economic growth in the province.
We advise all Departments to spend their budgets legally, while adhering to legislation and regulations, to avoid any irregular and wasteful expenditure. The DA will keep an hawk’s eye on this expenditure.
We are committed to ensuring that public funds are efficiently and effectively utilised to improve the lives of citizens.