Chairperson, the Adjustments Appropriation Bill provides additional funding, focused on the built environment, covering housing, water and other services. Spending in these areas is welcomed as it could provide better service delivery, improved infrastructure and job creation.
A major area of concern, however, remains the inability of government departments to fulfil their mandates. Building the capacity of government departments will become a major challenge in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. A large number of departments just do not have the capacity to spend their current funding allocations, let alone spend the additional funds being made available now.
Underspending against budget is always attributed to a lack of capacity, resulting from the inability of departments to fill existing vacancies. This position is unlikely to be turned around and is particularly worrying in the departments of Transport and of Sport and Recreation. These two departments play a major role in the arrangements for Soccer World Cup 2010. Both departments are receiving substantial additional funding, but, judging by their current performance, however, they are unlikely to reach their spending targets.
The Department of Sport and Recreation has a vacancy rate of 50%, is badly managed in terms of its audit report and yet approves performance bonuses of R1,6 million to staff without conducting performance reviews.
The Department of Transport's strategic plan states that 10 000 of the oldest taxis on our roads were supposed to have been scrapped by the end of 2006. At the end of March 2007, the department had managed to scrap only 2 800.
The Adjustments Appropriation Bill provides for the recapitalisation of the Land Bank to the tune of R700 million. Given the investigations into fraud at the Land Bank and the dismissal of the board, it is not surprising that additional funds are required. Government would be well advised to await the outcome of the investigation before throwing more good money after bad.
Major additional funding is also being made available to state-owned enterprises, such as SA Airways. This is another bottomless pit, and an urgent intervention and investigation is required to determine whether continued support and operation of these enterprises is warranted.
The additional funding for the Hospital Revitalisation Programme and the School Building Programme should be welcomed. A lack of good management and the dismal failure by the Department of Health, however, to provide proper health services, is a cause for concern.
The Department of Education, in its disappointing performance in erecting only 21 schools out of a proposed 150 schools to have been funded by the European Union, is equally disturbing, and one wonders how they will perform with the additional funding now provided for the School Building Programme.
Whereas increased funding for local government, for the appointment of agricultural extension officers, for improvements to crime prevention and for the School Nutrition Programme should be welcomed, fraud and bad management have also been experienced in these areas.
Discipline and good management practice in government departments should receive priority attention. In this regard, the continuous inclination to roll over funds and move funds to other programmes within the same vote, indicate a misalignment of expenditure and poor planning generally. Thank you.