The Official Opposition in KwaZulu Natal will call upon the national Minister of Finance and the national Treasury to intervene in the affairs of the provincial Department of Health whose finances have been grossly overspent.

"The R2-billion budget over-run calls for a direct intervention by the national institutions in line with section 100 of the Constitution,"  said Leader of the Official Opposition in KwaZulu Natal Dr Lionel Mtshali.

Based on its own monitoring, the IFP had anticipated an overspent budget at Health and warned that the department's overspending would throw a wet blanket on many ambitious projects such as the rollout of new facilities to address the infrastructure backlog.

"Only last week we were vindicated when the provincial Treasury stepped in to cancel the supply and distribution of food parcels by the Department of Health in conjunction with the Department of Social Development," said Dr Mtshali.

The IFP has previously blamed the department's overspent budget on the prevailing lack of financial controls and discipline filtering down from its political leadership and top management.

"No provincial government department overspent its budget during my time as Premier between 1999 and 2004," said Dr Mtshali.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Dr Lionel Mtshali, 083 256 4902