MEC Maile snubs Finance Portfolio Committee meeting, instead focuses on playing politics in Tshwane

12 March 2020

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is disappointed that the MEC for Human Settlements, Lebogang Maile opted not to appear before the Finance Portfolio Committee on Wednesday.

MEC Maile disregarded the summons to appear before the Finance Portfolio committee, where he was expected to explain the poor performance of his department for the 3rd quarter of the 2019/2020 financial year.

Currently his department owes service providers R1.217 billion for an array of services rendered.

Should these service providers not be paid before the end of the current financial year, it will have a negative impact on the department’s budget for the 2020/2021 financial year.

This also shows the blatant disregard that the MEC and his department have for SMMEs who are dependent on being paid for services rendered so that they in turn can pay their employees.

In addition, this department only managed to build 6 903 housing units compared to the target of building 11 496 housing units for the quarter under review.

Furthermore, the National Department of Human Settlements has stopped the transfer of R250 million for the Gauteng Human Settlements Development Grant, because the department has failed to spend its allocated budget.

Instead of focusing on fixing his department, MEC Maile is spending all his time and energy in Tshwane, trying to fix something that is not broken.

Issued byAdriana Randall,DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Finance and e-Government, 12 March 2020