The Land Commission on Wednesday said it had exhausted its entire R1,3-billion budget allocated for land claims eight months before the end of the 2008/09 financial year.
‘We were allocated R1,7-billion for the current financial year and we have spent R1,3-billion which was allocated for land claims,” chief land commissioner Blessing Molefe told the media at a briefing at Port Shepstone on KwaZulu-Natal’s south coast.
”The remainder is now being used for salaries and other office work.
”We need about R3-billion more for the current year.â€
He said the commission had started the new financial year on a shoe string budget because of severe financial constraints faced by the state.
Molefe said the commission had spent R20,3-billion on settling 75Â 400 land claims since 1995. — Sapa