Madam Speaker and hon members, it is easy to be a celebrity; you just fall off your chair, and your name is all over. I wouldn't have got such publicity. Thanks to everyone that was entertained by that.
When the Minister of Finance tabled the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement on Tuesday, he also tabled, among others, the Adjustments Appropriation Bill. For this current financial year, they were subsequently referred to the Portfolio Committee on Finance for consideration and report, as we hereby do. This is one of the main features of a developmental state - being responsive to the social needs of citizens and intervening by developing and deploying resources where they are needed most and prioritising the needs of the vulnerable in pursuit of a better life.
In terms of the Public Finance Management Act, section 30(2), the adjustments appropriation must provide for a number of things, including unforeseeable and unavoidable expenditure, expenditure already announced by the Minister during the tabling of the annual Budget, the shifting of funds between and within Votes and the roll-over of unspent funds from the preceding financial year. As explained during the tabling and briefing to the committee, this year's adjustments cut across all these categories. We were advised that the request for unforeseeable and unavoidable expenditure amounted to something like R33,2 billion, and the Treasury Committee approved R12,471 billion. We were accordingly informed that those that were not approved did not meet the criteria of being unforeseen and unavoidable. Those that met the criteria are outlined in the Bill, and my colleague, Comrade Arthur Moloto, will be talking to some of them in more detail.
The supplementary amounts that were announced in the 2008-09 Budget amounted to R10,2 billion, and mainly cover the first tranche of the Eskom loan, Public Works' retrofitting of government buildings with energy saving equipments, and Minerals and Energy's Demand Side Management programme. We've seen this in our areas where even municipalities are doing the same - exchanging bulbs with the energy-saving ones.
The other category was that of inflation-related adjustments in terms of section 30(2)(a) of the Public Finance Management Act. These range from the remuneration of civil servants, which takes the largest portion of these adjustments, followed by municipal costs for free basic services due to high energy costs and housing costs.
In line with our Polokwane conference resolution on prioritising education and health, compensation for inflation also goes to Learner Teacher Support Material and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. Medical equipment and medicine costs are also accommodated in this regard. As we in the ANC have always maintained that inflation hurts the poor, the National School Nutrition Programme is therefore catered for in this category.
The other category of adjustments is that of roll-overs that amounted to R2,361 billion. This is with the understanding that all these adjustments have passed the test of section 30(2)(g) of the Public Finance Management Act.
In tabling our report on this Adjustments Appropriation Bill, we appeal to the relevant portfolio committees affected by these adjustments to follow up during their oversight on whether departments truly deserve the additional allocations and whether the roll-overs have not arisen as a result of poor planning or nonimplementation of their mandates. I raise this matter because with the time at our disposal, we were not able to engage with either the departments or relevant portfolio committees in order to satisfy ourselves with the validity of these requests. We merely relied on the treasury committee and National Treasury, for the Constitution enjoins Parliament to discharge the responsibility of oversight.
I want to take this opportunity to thank members of the committee for their hard work and understanding that delaying this Bill will prejudice the much needed adjustments, which will impact on the lives of the citizens of the country, hence we were able to fast-track it.
The ANC supports this Bill and trusts that the portfolio committees, as I have indicated, will follow up on the issues raised and those that Mr Moloto will be dealing with in more detail. Thank you.