Staff members of the KwaZulu-Natal Treasury department wanted to spend public money to buy new calendars in the middle of the year, so those new calendars could have the face of the new MEC Francois Rodgers.
The province's MEC for finance narrated this story as he detailed the extent of the waste he has had to stop in the department since taking over in June this year.
Speaking to a broadcast channel on his assessment since he took up the post, Rodgers detailed the extent of the wastage which included renting cars at exorbitant cost and wanting to spend public money to change the calendar in the middle of the year.
Rodgers said it is necessary to cut wastage and the province is facing a financial cliff, it could have a deficit of R9 billion by the end of the year.
“Fiscal discipline is going to get us out of this mess, we have had severe budget cuts in our equitable share grant. We have had severe budget cuts of almost R40 billion in the last six years. We have another R12 billion that is going to be cut over the next three years.
“If we are going to continue spending on the “nice to have” and not what we should be spending on then we compound the problem and we end up with a situation of a project R9 billion deficit,” he said.
He said when he took over the post, he found out that his ministry was renting a vehicle, which had paid R1 million in 4 months. “In one month, R40 000 had been spent on petrol. It's obscene.
“Another simple example, my first day at the ministry I get asked, MEC do you want new calendars, do want new diaries, this is in June in the middle of the year, when I asked why would I need new calendars, they said your predecessor’s face was on the (current) calendars. I will leave my predecessor's face on them.
“This is the type of wastage that I have seen. It’s sad, it’s been a free for all and we have to stop that. In this fiscal environment, we have to turn over every single rand and make sure it is spent on key issues, job creation, dealing with poverty and inequality, and improving service delivery,” he said.
The Mercury