The latest spending patterns by provincial departments show a measurable improvement, Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday.
Although provinces still face capacity challenges, there is improvement, he told journalists during the Treasury’s tabling of provincial budgets and expenditure review in Parliament.
”There are measurable improvements, but we also need to tighten the lines,” he said.
Manuel declined to respond when asked if this meant that concerns he raised last year about provincial departments and local governments’ inability to spend, posing a serious challenge to service delivery, were now a thing of the past.
”I have good relations with provincial MECs [ministers] and premiers and if I have any concerns, I would raise it with them instead of leaking them to the media,” he said.
The provincial expenditure review that Manuel was to table at the National Council of Provinces on Wednesday afternoon is a summary of what different provincial departments managed to spend this financial year.
Manuel said the review is meant to be a tool to enhance Parliament’s oversight role. ”If the departments have spent less than 25%, Parliament should ask why,” he said.
Giving an overview of transfers made to provincial departments between 2003 and 2007, and future transfers until 2010, the review cites education as one of the biggest provincial spenders.
Provincial education expenditure increased from R6-billion in 2003 to R79-billion in the current financial year.
Manuel attributed the huge increase to, among other things, the introduction of no-fee schools and an increase in the number of pupils. — Sapa