President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to questions today in the National Council of Provinces(NCOP) in Parliament. He said the insufficient expenditure by municipalities and provinces of their budgets destroys public trust in government.
“It also erodes public trust in the state’s ability to improve the livelihood of our citizens and exacerbates service delivery protests. The inability of many municipalities to spend their capital budgets is often as a result of poor management, poor planning and weak implementation capacity and inadequate financial and supply management. National government itself continues to engage directly with provinces and our municipalities,” says Ramaphosa.
He says the eradication of corruption at municipalities is one of government’s priorities. This includes combating financial mismanagement at the local sphere of government.
“There have been investigations. There have been arrests for those people who have been involved in corrupt activities. This is precisely what we want to see, that those who perpetrate either the acts of mismanagement or even stealing money from our people, there should be follow-ups. There should be consequence management. That is the way in which consequences visit those acts people commit against our people. And therefore, it is the process that is gathering momentum so that whoever participates in these acts should know that there is no space to move,” he says.
President Ramaphosa defended the estimated R700-million price tag budgeted for the envisaged National Dialogue set to take place in August this year.
He says the amount is a proposed budget, adding that he has advised those involved in the budgeting process to reduce it.
“That amount that has been put out in public. We are going to make sure that it is driven. It is just an estimate. We are going to make sure that we spend as little as possible. But at the same time have as much consultations as much as possible, so that the process itself must be enriched while at the same time, we do not impoverish the people of South Africa through spending too much money on that whole process. And I have said to my colleagues that the cost that was put out must be driven down and we must get to the bare bones,” he says.
President Ramaphosa says he supports the view made by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, that the economy must be stimulated in order to attract investment.
“We continue asking ourselves what is making those with money, those who can invest to commit to invest more money? Why are we not able to grow the economy and increase the size of our market? That is what we are now fixing. When we face electricity challenges we know that the private sector cannot survive in an economy where there is no electricity,” says Ramaphosa.
