Madam Deputy Speaker, I understand that one can declare from anywhere in the House. This is on behalf of my colleague, Mr Singh, who had to go to the airport in a hurry. So, I am not a member of the committee, therefore, committee members, forgive me. The IFP supports the additional allocation of funds, but we must express concern about the ability of provinces and municipalities to not only spend the funds effectively and efficiently, but to have in place high degrees of accountability for such spending.
It is a matter of concern that, as of now, Limpopo, and departments within certain other provinces still fall under the administration of national government. This reality, combined with a high degree of mismanagement, corruption and poor service delivery in many municipalities, does not bode well for the future. We note that additional funds have been made available to certain provinces, KwaZulu-Natal in particular, in the form of a Hospital Revitalisation grant - I think it is R20 million - and a Health Infrastructure grant of R180 million.
Now, given the sad state of affairs regarding what is happening in well- renowned hospitals in the province, like the Addington Hospital in Durban, we trust these additional allocations will be utilised to maintain and improve such facilities and not allow them to deteriorate to unacceptable standards.
If what we have heard about the Department of Health wanting to replace third party catering services at hospitals and provide such catering services in-house is true, we are deeply concerned, as we believe the Department of Health should only be attending to its core function, namely that of providing proper health care. We trust that the matter will be looked into before it is implemented.
This Amendment Bill also provides for an adjustment of R123 million to five cities in respect of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. Whilst it is good to host such an iconic tournament, it may be prudent to remind ourselves of the hundreds of millions spent on World Cup stadia, many of which are now white elephants.
We also note that R138,9 million is being declared as savings on the Rural Household Infrastructure grant and has been reallocated to other government priorities. One cannot understand such reallocations in light of the fact that the need in our rural areas for basic services remains so great. The IFP supports the Bill. Thank you.
Bill read a second time.