<\/p>\n
Cape Town – Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the National Treasury had stopped R2.7 billion in transfers in conditional grants to municipalities from the R7.4bn that was earmarked earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Godongwana revealed this while responding to parliamentary questions from GOOD Party MP Brett Herron when he enquired about the National Treasury\u2019s announcement that conditional grant funding would be withheld from some municipalities due to non-performance.<\/p>\n
The minister said the withholding of transfers to municipalities was an annual practice that had been institutionalised over the past 10 years to maximise spending and the effectiveness of conditional grants.<\/p>\n
The National Treasury initiated the stopping and re-allocating the 2022\/23 conditional grant allocations in terms of the Division of Revenue Act in February.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe National Treasury issued 171 letters to all under-performing municipalities on February 17, 2023, covering about 11 conditional grants that were reflecting under-performance against the 2022\/23 conditional grant allocations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis process was done in consultation with the transferring national accounting officers or departments that are responsible for the administration of the conditional grants.\u201d<\/p>\n
Godongwana said the 2022-23 mid-year expenditure reports were utilised to determine if the municipalities were under-performing against their allocations when they reported to both the National Treasury and the transferring officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe affected municipalities were afforded an opportunity to make a written presentation to the National Treasury, by providing a motivation on why the grants should not be stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe municipalities were required to submit the motivation to the National Treasury within seven days after the receipt of the letters regarding expenditure against their allocations and project progress on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also said an amount of R7.4bn was proposed to be stopped from municipalities for various conditional grants due to their poor performance or slow spending as proposed by either the national department administering the conditional grant, or the National Treasury.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn amount of R2.7bn was ultimately not transferred from the initial proposed amount of R7.4bn.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 19 Western Cape municipalities that received letters of intention to stop a portion of their conditional grants included the City of Cape Town, Cape Winelands, Matzikama, Cederberg, Saldanha Bay, Swartland, Witzenberg, Stellenbosch and Breede Valley.<\/p>\n
Others were Langeberg, Overstrand, Cape Agulhas; Kannaland, Mossel Bay; George, Bitou, Knysna, Prince Albert and Beaufort West.<\/p>\n
In the Eastern Cape, there were 22, Free State 17, Gauteng nine, KwaZulu-Natal 34, Limpopo 20, Mpumalanga 14, Northern Cape 23 and North West 13.<\/p>\n
The City of Cape Town was the biggest winner when it was re-allocated R111m in an informal settlement upgrading grant, and R81 673 000 from the neighbourhood development partnership grant. <\/p>\n
George Municipality had a R45 690 000 transfer stopped from the public transport network grant, Cederberg and Saldanha Bay had their respective R5 200 000 and R2 266 000 municipal grant transfers stopped. <\/p>\n
Swellendam Municipality was reallocated R6 000 000 in a water service grant.The Witzenberg and Cape Agulhas municipalities had their transfers of R4\u00a0000\u00a0000 and R4\u00a0500\u00a0000 stopped.<\/p>\n
Godongwana defended the stopping and non-transfer of the conditional grants against under-performing municipalities, saying it was helping municipalities address any issue hindering the spending of their conditional grant allocation in that year.<\/p>\n
This could be because of the late approval of projects, late procurement, litigation and others, and was reallocated to municipalities that were ready to spend and had shovel-ready projects.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce these municipalities have addressed their challenges and they are ready, they will be able to spend their future annual allocations which are not normally affected by in-year spending.<\/p>\n
\u201cTherefore, the stopping of the allocation is to ensure efficiency in spending and protecting against possible misuse and usage of the conditional grants for operational purposes while the municipality is being supported to resolve its challenges,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Godongwana provided details of support that was given to municipalities that were affected by the stopping or suspension of the conditional grants.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is ultimately the responsibility of municipalities to take up the support provided and make their own decisions, but still be accountable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cape Times<\/p>\n
Cape Town – Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the National Treasury had stopped R2.7 billion in transfers in conditional grants to municipalities from the R7.4bn that was earmarked earlier this year. Godongwana revealed this while responding to parliamentary questions from GOOD Party MP Brett Herron when he enquired about the National Treasury\u2019s announcement that conditional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[11128,4889,14460,14459,14461,7023],"class_list":["post-181855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-municipalities","tag-national","tag-r2-7bn","tag-stops","tag-transfers","tag-treasury"],"yoast_head":"\n