Honourable Speaker

During the financial year currently under review, the KwaZulu Natal provincial government has overspent its budget by a staggering R2.6-billion, with the two worst offenders being the Departments of Health and Education, which also happen to be two of the most important vehicles for service delivery. These figures, honourable Speaker, speak for themselves.

The projected over-expenditure in the Department of Health is most likely higher than the R1.5-billion figure reported in the media. It is also the most serious compared with the other eight provinces and the worst in the fiscal history of KwaZulu Natal. As a result, the levels of overspending and mismanagement at Health have come perilously close to those at Agriculture which we in the Official Opposition have long isolated as the worst run government department in the province.

The IFP has estimated the overspent budget at Health at close to R2-billion based on our monitoring that takes into account the actual cost of emergency maintenance on the department's crumbling infrastructure. The over-expenditure at Health is due to the prevailing lack of financial controls and discipline filtering down from the management and political leadership of the department. The allegations of mismanagement, fraud and corruption have indeed reached the highest echelons of the department as the MEC herself is implicated in an investigation by the Scorpions.

The department's decline began with the forced departure of its former Head Professor Ronald Green-Thompson and the Chief Financial Officer Hermann Conradie who kept the lid on spending prior to the appointment of the current MEC. Although overspending has necessitated the freezing of new posts across the board, this has not stopped the MEC from making fresh promises of new clinics as she campaigns in the rural areas ahead of next year's election.

We in the IFP have long anticipated the current crisis in the provision of public healthcare since the frozen posts include both administrative and professional appointments. The freezing of posts extends to training schemes for the current staff which impacts negatively on the quality of healthcare. The ongoing departmental programmes such as the roll-out of anti-retrovirals are suffering and there can be no question of responding flexibly to a potential outbreak of a new health crisis like the drug-resistant TB.

The Official Opposition has called upon the national Minister of Finance and the national Treasury to intervene in the affairs of the Department of Health. The R2-billion budget over-run calls for a direct intervention by the national institutions in line with section 100 of the Constitution.

The provincial Treasury has already stepped in to cancel the supply and distribution of food parcels by the Department of Health in conjunction with the Department of Social Development as a result of this. As much as we are disturbed by the consequences of this measure for those who depend on government food parcels, we note that the Treasury was left with no choice but to cancel the supply and distribution of these handouts.

The IFP also sympathises with the 50 odd supplier and distribution companies which have lost out due to the Treasury's decision to cancel the rollout of food parcels. The Department of Health has managed to give the entire provincial government a bad name in the local business circles.

The second worst offender in terms of overspending is the Department of Education. Quite predictably, the R700-million that has been overspent has not made a slightest dent on the backlog in the provision of schooling facilities in KwaZulu Natal. The backlog will not go unless the department reduces the cost of building classrooms at the expense of consultants and contractors.

Again, we have long predicted a budget overrun at Education on account of inflated consultants' and contractors' fees that routinely swell the cost of building schooling facilities. The IFP contends the infrastructure backlog is a matter of misplaced priorities. Somehow the department always finds resources for the ubiquitous consultant but never for a substantial reduction in the existing infrastructure backlog.

The last department I wish to tackle is the perennially disastrous Agriculture. The IFP has reacted with outrage to the R1.5-million golden handshake to be awarded to former Head of Department Dr Jabulani Mjwara whose misconduct and incompetence have cost the province at least R125-million in past overspending out of which about R80-million cannot be accounted for.

We have compiled a dossier detailing Mjwara's misconduct at Agriculture and we are handing it over to the Special Investigations Unit. We hope to recover at least some of the missing state funds from Mjwara via the Asset Forfeiture Unit.

We had criticised the mismanagement at Agriculture long before Mjwara's departure from the public service. The former HOD had been consistently shielded by the Premier when the extent of his misconduct became known to this House and its finance committee. 

The IFP has previously approached the state institutions in connection with the forensic audit report into Mjwara's mismanagement which the ANC-led provincial government is still - two years on - withholding from the public scrutiny. It is worth noting that Mjwara's extensive connections with the ruling party ensured that he continued to benefit from lucrative state tenders via the ANC-controlled uMsunduzi Municipality even after his hushed departure from the Department of Agriculture to avoid prosecution.

Overspending on this scale, honourable Speaker, is an entirely novel phenomenon. In fact, no provincial government department overspent its budget during my time as Premier between 1999 and 2004.

I thank you.

Contact:
Dr Lionel Mtshali
083 256 4902