Durban - THE KwaZulu-Natal social development has underspent its 2019/20 budget by more than R33 million, an amount which will have to be returned to the National Treasury.
Les Govender, IFP spokesperson for social development said the party was deeply disturbed with this as the provincial destitute citizens were desperate for services.
“R33.37 million will have to be returned to the Treasury. This is totally unacceptable since the people of KZN are in desperate need of social services, yet we find that money that was budgeted for specific service delivery programmes has not been spent. As a result of the underspending and poor planning the department has not achieved close to thirty of its own performance targets in the past financial year,” Govender said in a statement.
He said whilst the department was commended on some of its achievements during “these trying times”, the fact that the department has a history of underspending on its budget and underperforming with regard to its annual targets could not be overlooked.
“Programmes such as services to older persons, HIV/Aids, persons with disabilities and child care and protection have all not met their performance targets.
These are critical programmes that affect the very core of our peoples’ lives, but they are not being rolled out as expected. It is obvious that there is a lack of commitment and dedication to duty on the part of some officials who simply do not care about the wellbeing of our people. There is evidence of increasing social ills and poverty in communities across KZN, and this calls for creative thinking on the part of those employed to deliver services for which there is funding,” he said.
He called upon the MEC Nonhlanhla Khoza to play an effective leadership role in ensuring that citizens receive the services that are due to them.