. Eastern Cape: There is slow progress on the Mdantsane library project. The explanation given was that provincial officials had cited misunderstandings with the local community as leading to delays in the project. However, further investigation had also revealed challenges with the contractor's delivery performance; . KwaZulu-Natal: Internal supply chain management challenges had led to a slow start to projects and therefore under-expenditure; . Limpopo: The upgrading of projects and the purchasing of library material had been delayed due to slow appointment of service providers which suggested challenges in the internal supply chain management or poor planning.; . Mpumalanga: This province had also struggled to manage its internal supply chain processes, as well as contractor performance. As a result most expenditure had only taken place in the fourth quarter; . Northern Cape: there had been a delay in finalising Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with municipalities, and this contributed to a significant decline in expenditure as compared to the previous year's expenditure; and . North West: The province was clearly recovering from a low spending performance, but execution of planned projects was still very slow (late appointment of contractors), despite funds having been made available for capacity building that included staff.