Wasted R1 billion could have been used to deliver services to South Africans 

6 October 2016

In the 2015/16 financial year the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), under the leadership of Minister Des Van Rooyen,  reflected irregular expenditure amounting to R1 billion and a bizarre 2581.94% increase in expenditure on consumables. The Department’s audit opinion also deteriorated from an unqualified opinion in the 2014/15 financial year, to a qualified audit opinion in the latest financial year.

The is evidence of a Department that has become increasingly dysfunctional and is failing to set the example for local governments with regard to cost containment and responsible spending. 

The R1 billion in waste relates to the irregular expenditure in the 2015/16 financial year amounting to R442 458 000, plus the R589 880 000 in irregular expenditure from previous years that had not yet been condoned or written off, and thus got rolled over.

The wasted R1 billion could have been used to: 

- Fill 2 272 727 potholes;

- Install 100 000 flush toilets;

- Build 7 692 RDP homes;

- Connect flush sanitation to 250 000 houses; and 

- Connect electricity to 178 571 low income houses. 

Since assuming the office of Minister in December 2015, subsequent to being hired and fired as Finance Minister over a weekend, Minister Van Rooyen has presided over an increasingly mismanaged department.

During the 2015/16 financial year, the department has seen its current year irregular expenditure increase by 184%, from R155 375 000 in 2014/15, to R442 458 000 in 2015/16. 

The department’s total expenditure increased by almost 15%, from just over R59 billion in 2014/15 to just over R68 billion in 2015/16: 

- Employee compensation and salaries and wages both went up by respectively 10% and 9%;

- Goods and services increased by 44.94%, an increase of R763 550 000;

- Spending on contractors by 42.89%, an increase of R544 498 000;

- Agency and support/outsourced services by 1122.94%, an increase of R 6 805 000; and 

- Spending on consumable supplies by 2581.94% from R4 558 000 in 2014/15 to R122 243 000 in 2015/16.  

In just one year Minister Van Rooyen has driven CoGTA to a financial abyss, negatively impacting the running of local governments across the country and impeding much needed service delivery. 

The ANC government has for too long governed without the interests of the people at heart, and the DA has inherited local governments that have long been neglected by a political elite hell-bent on looting state-coffers. We are ready for the challenge because where we govern, we govern better.

Issued by Kevin Mileham, DA Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, 6 October 2016