Durban - The Provincial Department of Transport plans to spend R12-million over the next eight months on celebratory functions such as wellness days, sod-turning ceremonies and bridge openings - apparently in disregard of a stern warning from the KwaZulu-Natal Treasury to cut costs.
This is according to a response from the department given to the KZN legislature finance committee this week, which was meant to deal with cost-cutting measures it was implementing in its “catering for external meetings, workshops and events”.
In her budget speech this year, Finance MEC Ina Cronje announced several cost-cutting measures to curb wasteful expenditure by provincial departments, including no bottled water or catering at meetings and a ban on team-building exercises and year-end functions.
She also put a cap on the number of events held, with only two a month permitted.
She stipulated that an event for 3 500 people should not cost more than R1m and events with 1 500 to 2 000 people should not cost more than R500 000 to R700 000.
According to the department’s report, 12 events are planned between this month and April next year at a cost of R1m each.
The events will be held in the Ugu (South Coast), Amajuba (Newcastle) and Sisonke (Vryheid) district municipalities, among other areas.
DA finance committee member Tom Stokes said the cost of the events was “excessive”.
“While we welcome the provision of roads and bridges, particularly to rural areas, we have a major problem with spending to celebrate these projects. One hundred thousand would be too much, one million is ridiculous. This money could be spent on other resources.”
He also questioned whether the funds would be used for ANC election campaigning in the run-up to the 2014 national elections.
Stokes said he had asked for a detailed breakdown of the budget for each event from the department.
IFP finance committee member Lindani Mncwango also linked the events to “electioneering”.
“The department is meant to be doing more with less, yet they can spend R1m on each event. How can an opening of a bridge cost so much? They cut a ribbon and serve lunch in a marquee. We have to question why we have these events because people can see new bridges and roads. No one will be angry if it is not officially opened.”
Finance committee chairwoman and ANC MPL Belinda Scott said the events were not election campaigns.
“It’s nonsense and cheap politicking from the opposition. They are really clutching at straws. These events are not new; they happen every year, even when there are no elections. To be fair one should do a comparison to see how much events held by the (DA-controlled) Western Cape government cost and how many they have each year.”
She added that the Transport Department had also abided by the strict regulations imposed by the provincial Treasury and had kept to the guideline of two events a month.
She said the provincial government had a duty to hold these events for community outreach.
“In the Transport Department there are thousands of community workers who work to construct the roads and bridges, therefore these events can be invariably large compared to other departments. People benefit from these events.”
The Transport Department did not respond to questions sent on Wednesday.
The Mercury