Gazankulu Legislative Assembly. Report of the Sessional Committee on Public Accounts

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Gazankulu (South Africa ) . Legislative Assembly. Sessional Committtee on Public Accounts .

Report of the Sessional Committee on Public Accounts S . IE AR D R R B FO LI

HJ

82.3 G39639A

1984

S E

D R

I

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B

F I

N A

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HOOVER INSTITUTION on War, Revolution , and Peace FOUNDED BY HERBERT HOOVER, 1919

RD

S

IE

FO

N TA

S

MINTINHO .

YA

• WAVULA

(South Africa). GAZANKULU

LEGISLATIVE

ASSEMBLY

REPORT

OF

THE

SESSIONAL

COMMITTEE

ON

PUBLIC

ACCOUNTS

1984

JF

AR

L

R IB

VITA 12103

JUXMASAJ

80539

30

IT

MUT

JA 3A

ЈАКОТРаза

311 & U4

- 1 -

RULE 144 (b ) OF THE STANDING RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE GAZANKULU LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY

As soon as possible after the beginning of each session the Legislative Assembly shall appoint the following Sessional Committees each consisting of five members including the Chairman thereof : -

(b)

On Public Accounts whose terms of reference shall be to examine and report to the Assembly upon : -

(i )

the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted by the Assembly to meet public expenditure ; and

(ii )

the annual Report of the Auditor- General which report shall stand referred to the Sessional Committee ;

and the report of the Sessional Committee shall be laid upon the Table whereupon such report shall be formally considered by the Assembly .

- 2 -

ANNOUNCEMENT

13 March 1984 :

The following Honourable members have been appointed as members of the Sessional Committee on Gazankulu Government Accounts : -

Chief N.C. Mathebula Mr. G.M. Mushwana

Mr. T.C. Hlayisi

Mr. V.M. Ngobeni Mr. S.H. Khosa

The Committee has been empowered in terms of Rule 151 to

take evidence and call for papers .

MATTERS REFERRED TO THE COMMITTEE

13 March 1984 :

Report of the Auditor- General on the Accounts of the Gazankulu Government and of the Accounts of Lower Authorities in the area for the financial year 1982/83 referred to the Committee in terms of Rule 144 ( B ) .

13 March 1984 :

Reply of the Treasury to the Resolution of the First and Second Report of the Sessional Committee on Gazankulu Accounts , 1983 , tabled .

Recommended that it be referred to the

Sessional Committee on Gazankulu Accounts 1984 .

- 3-

PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GAZANKULU ACCOUNTS , 1984

Appointed in terms of Rule 144 ( B ) of the Rules of the Gazankulu Legislative Assembly , the Committee consisting of Chief N.C. Mathebula ( Chairman ) , Mr. G.M. Mushwana , Mr T.C. Hlayisi , Mr. V.M. Ngobeni and Mr. S.H. Khosa .

TUESDAY 08 MAY 1984

PRESENT

Mr P.J. Bakkes ·

Deputy Chief Auditor representing the AuditorGeneral .

Mr W.M.N. Erasmus ·

Senior State Auditor

Mr J.D. Mativandlela · -

Secretary for the Department of the Interior

Mr M.W. du Preez ·

Secretary for the Department of Works

Mr S.D.C. Vukela -

Secretary for the Department of Education

Mr G.H.P. Marais -

Secretary for the Department of Finance

Mr M.F. Mdungazi -

Deputy secretary for the Department of Finance

Colonel P.M. Mathe -

Department of Police

Mr H.S. Nkuna ·

Secretary to the Treasury

Mr D. Mabunda -

Accountant Department of the Interior

Mr A.D. Makondo ·

Clerk of the Committee

Mr G. Hlomela -

Assistant Clerk of the Committee .

Clerk reads Rule 144 ( B ) of the Procedure of the Gazankulu Legislative Assembly and the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly's announcement constituting the Committee .

Clerk intimated that the Committee would proceed to the election of chairman .

Whereupon the motion of Mr V.M. Ngobeni Resolved :

That Chief N.C. Mathebula be chairman . The chairman welcomed members and officials .

On the motion of the chairman

Resolved :

That the evidence given before the Committee be in English and be recorded verbatim

insofar as it is practicable to do so .

2 /....

.4 .-

The Committee resumed the consideration of the Report of the Auditor- General on Accounts of the Gazankulu Government 1982-83 .

Mr W.M.N. Erusmus , Senior State Auditor , Mr J.D. Mativandlela , Secretary for the Department of the Interior , Mr. M.W. du Preez , Secretary for the Department of Works , Mr S.D.C Vukela , Secretary for the Department of Education ,

Mr G.H.P. Marais ,

Secretary for the Department of Finance , Mr M.F. Mdungazi , Deputy Secretary for the Department of Finance , Colonel M.P. Mathe , Department of Police , Mr H.S. Nkuna , Secretary to the Treasury were examined .

At 12 hrs 15 chairman announced that there were still items on the programme to be discussed , but as the officers who are to be examined are not present , he asked the Committee to adjourn until tomorrow

the 9 May 1984 at 10hrs .

PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON GAZANKULU ACCOUNTS , 1984

WEDNESDAY 09 MAY 1984

PRESENT

Mr W.M.N. Erasmus -

Senior State Auditor

Dr. P. Robert ·

Secretary for the Department of Health and Welfare

Mr.W.B. Matthews

Secretary for the Department of the Chief Minister and Economic Affairs and Police .

Mr. L.A. van Dyk ·

Secretary for the Department of Agriculture and Forestry .

Mr. G.H.P. Marais -

Secretary for the Department of Finance

Mr. M.F. Mdungazi -

Deputy Secretary for the Department of Finance

Mr. H.S. Nkuna · -

Secretary to the Treasury

Mr. M.R. Qomondi -

Accountant for the Department of Health and Welfare

Mr. A.D. Makondo -

Clerk of the Committee

Mr. G. Hlomela

Assistant Clerk of the Committee

The Committee resumed the consideration of the Report of the Auditor - General on Accounts of the Gazankulu Government 1982-83 , for the remaining items at 9hrs 3 min .

5/....

- 5 -

Mr. W.M.N. Erasmus , Senior State Auditor , Mr. W.B. Matthews , Secretary for the Department of Chief Minister and Economic Affairs and Police , Mr. L.A. van Dyk , Secretary for the Department of Agriculture and Forestry , Mr. G. H.P. Marais , Secretary for the Department of Finance , Dr. P. Robert , Secretary for the Department of Health and Welfare were examined .

The chairman announced that the programme had

been completed and that the Committee had nothing more to discuss .

He thanked the members

for their attendance and Co-operation and Mr. Bakkes for his assistance and guidance .

The Committee deleberated and at 11 hrs 45 min adjourned sine dîe.

6 /....

-6 -

FIRST

REPORT

UNAUTHORISED EXPENDITURE ( 1982-83 )

Resolution 1 .

Your Committee begs to report that items of expenditure amounting to R4 622 898,73 specified in paragraph 4 , page 2 , of the Report of the Auditor - General on the Appropriation Accounts for 1982-83 ( G.R. 1984 ) are unauthorised and require to be voted .

Your Committee , having made enquiry into the circumstances , recommends the above sum for specific appropriation by the Legislative Assembly , apportioned as follows : -

On Revenue Services

R Vote 4 - Education ....

2 504 363,17

Vote 5

1 865 334,60

Agriculture and Forestry ......

Vote 7 - Health and Welfare ....

253 200,96 R4 622 898,73

(Questions 1 - 6 , 80 - 82 , 89)

Conference Room , Legislative Assembly , GIYANI . mila

09 MAY 1984

Mathe CHAIRMAN

- 7 -

SECOND

REPORT

Your Committee , having considered and examined the remainder of the Report of the Auditor- General on the Accounts of the Gazankulu Government and of the Accounts of Lower Authorities in the area

for the financial year 1982-83 referred to it , and

having taken evidence which it submits herewith , has no further comments to make upon it .

Conference Room , Legislative Assembly , GIYANI .

09 MAY 1984

‫هاست‬

CHAIRMAN

- 8 -

MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY , 08 AND 09 MAY 1984

( AT 10h00 )

Unauthorised expenditure , paragraph 4 .

1.

Chairman . )

We will firstly deal with unauthorised expenditure .

Mr. Vukela ,

I notice that the provision on your vote has been exceeded by R2 504 363,17 and that the excess is due mainly to increased salaries as a result of the recognition of higher qualifications and the implementation of occupational differentiation in Could you please elaborate? -

respect of teachers .

( Mr. Vukela . )

Mr. Chairman , the

implementation of occupational differentiation for teachers contributed extensively to the excess on the vote , for example :

The revision of salary scales which came into

effect on 01.04.1981 has brought in its wake such vast changes in the salary structure of teachers that in our case an overdraft was inevitable . The lists at our disposal reflect the enormous rise in some of the salaries , e.g. some teachers rose form R7 470 p.a. to R15 990 p.a. while others went up from R14 850 p.a. to R22 650 p.a.

In 1981 parity was attained in Post levels 2 and 6 ( e.g.

principals , deputy principals and heads of department ) provided their qualifications fell in Category C or higher , i.e. 3 years or more recognized post matric qualifications . Male and female principals under the classification SI , PI , SII and PII were placed on the same scale .

In 1982 parity was reached in post level 1 ( teachers ) provided the

teachers fell in Category C or higher . substantially .

Teachers in this category benefited

In addition a salary adjustment not lower than the prevailing

inflation rate was also effected for all teachers in the teaching profession as from 1 April 1982.

Secondly Mr. Chairman , as will be seen from the foregoing paragraphs ,

emphasis is laid on the acquisition of at least a Category C qualification . Consequently our teachers have spared no effort in an attempt to acquire this qualification .

Our teachers with a 8 + 2 qualification have also taken steps to upgrade

their qualifications .

We have at our disposal lists which show some of the teachers

who attained degrees or a number of courses towards a degree and the extent to which their higher qualifications have affected the budget .

Other lists are also available

of those who have attained matric as a result of trying to upgrade themselves , and the extent to which their qualifications have had an impact on the budget .

As far as those

teachers who eventually graduated are concerned the salaries have more than trebled . We have lists to back up this statement .

These are phenomena we never reckoned with

when the previous budgets were compiled , and as a result we have always been farming backwards . example :

More and more teachers are busy upgrading their qualifications . An unknown number was registered with UNISA and of Venda .

2 900 teachers wrote the Senior Certificate in May/June 1983.

For

On the other hand

Those teachers who

passed the required standard qualified for payment on a higher category .

Mr. Chairman ,

9 / ....

- 9 -

we have indicated in the last meeting of the Sessional Committee on Public Accounts that we were heading for another big deficit in the 1983/84 financial year and that our only salvation would be the 1984/85 budget which would be compiled after taking due cognisance of all the factors which affected us adversely in the past .

2.

Mr. G. M. Mushwana) :

Mr. Vukela , from the footnote on the appropriation account

published on page 19 of the Report , it appears that the excess is more than 10% of the total amount voted .

Is this not extraordinary high? -

(Mr. Vukela)

Mr. Chairman ,

I am in full agreement that this excess is extraordinary high , but faced with a situation where salaries increased in some instances in 50% and in some cases more To add Mr. Chairman , here we are not

than 100% the 10% excess was unavoidable .

looking at salaries alone but also at those other factors which are tied together with salaries .

These are items like vacation savings bonus and also your contribution to

pension fund which rise along with your salaries .

3.

Mr. Ngobeni ) :

Mr. Vukela , did you apply for additional funds? -

(Mr. Vukela)

Mr. Chairman , I indicated in paragraph 6 of my minute 3/3 ( 82/83 ) dated 14 January 1983 that my Department will have a deficit of

I also

R3 000 000-00 .

indicated that this deficit was attributable to insuficient funds for the salaries and pension contributions and that this amount be made available in the additional estimates .

And Mr. Chairman it was this specific communication which trigered plenty

of correspondences between my Department and that of Finance .

4.

MI

Khosa)

Mr. Vukel , are effec a t

ive

steps now taken to inclu de all relevant

facto

rs when you budget for salaries of teachers ?-

effec

(Mr. Vukel . ) a

Mr. Chair

man

measu

tive res have been taken in the 1984/85 budget but our 1983/84 budget remai which preva ned a victim of the circumstan iled in the past . I also want to ces point out Mr. Chair man , that effective steps have already been taken by the funding autho ritie to correct anomalitie which occured in the past . s s

5.

Mr. Hlayisi

Mr. Vukela , could you please explain what is meant by the

occupational differentiation for teachers?-

(Mr. Vukela.)

Mr. Chairman , the

occupational differentiation for teachers brings about a new dispensation for teachers . Teaching has now become a profession in which anyone who wants to qualify as a teacher must have at least a three years post matric qualification .

Mr. Chairman in the past the

arrangement was that you had people qualifying as teachers after attaining standard 6 , and it went on and latter the standard was upgraded to standard seven , and much later only after standard eight .

10/....

- 10 -

Under the new dispensation you can only qualify as a teacher after attaining matric plus three years study in a teachers training college .

6.

Mr. Chairman)

R4 622 898-73 .

I notice that the estimates for 1982/83 has been exceeded by

During the previous session of this Committee , concern was expressed

by the Committee on unauthorised expenditure . (Mr. Nkuna . )

Thank you Mr. Chairman .

Mr. Nkuna , have you any comments please?-

The control of expenditure during the course

of a financial year is one of the main functions of Treasury .

The expenditure is

controlled among others by analysing the expenditure for the first six months of a financial year and the revised estimates which are submitted by departments .

Should

it come to light that certain departments would exceed their voted amounts if their expenditure continue at the same rate , this state of affairs is brought to the attention of the accounting officers concerned with a strong appeal to remain within their votes and thus comply to both the Exchequer and Audit Act and the appeal of this committee during previous years .

I wish also to mention that departments do

approach Treasury by means of first and second revised estimates of expenditure for additional funds to meet increased costs caused among others price escalations beyond their control .

However , Mr. Chairman , these requests cannot all be entertained as a

result of limited funds in the Gazankulu Revenue Fund .

An analysis of unauthorised

expenditure for the past four financial years revealed that unauthorised expenditure as a percentage of the budget declined from 4,70% in 1979/80 to 3,84% in the 1982/83 financial year .

Although improvement is noted from the above analyses ,

accounting officers should strive to stay within the limits of their votes .

Kilometres covered ( Paragraph 19 ( 2 ) ( b ) page 15 )

7.

Mr. Chairman . )

Mr. Du Preez , the total distance covered on official service by

Government vehicles as well as subsidised vehicles increased considereable .

you say that the increase is fair and reasonable?-

(Mr. Du Preez . )

Would

Mr. Chairman ,

the total kilometres covered during the financial year 1982/83 was 10 647 405 and 8 629 330 in the financial year 1981/82 being kilometres travelled by the government vehicles , plus 2 924 144 and 1 203 425 respectively for the subsidized vehicles . The total kilometres for Gaz vehicles as well as the subsidized vehicles for the 1981/82 was 9 832 755 and 780 vehicles , whereas in the year under review the total vehicles were 795 and travelled 13 572 549 kilometres .

The statistics given hereon has a bearing

to all the vehicles of the Gazankulu Government .

In my position as the Secretary for Works

I cannot reply the question about the fairness of the increase in total distance covered , because my department only supplies vehicles to the other departments and is also only responsible for the maintenance thereof but has no access to the manner in which the kilometres are controlled in other departments .

11/....

- 11 -

In my department each vehicle has been allocated with a certain number of kilometres for the year and in this way it is easy for me to determine whether there has been an increase in the department's activities or not . criteria other departments

But I cannot say at this stage what

are using to control their vehicles , and as such the

question of the increase in kilometres for Government vehicles involves all the departments .

8.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr du Preez , during the previous session of this Committee , this

matter was also discussed and it appears that every vehicle on the road should be backed by an itinerary .

What I want to know is , how control is exercised to

ensure that each vehicle which travel on a road is covered by an itinerary and do not Do you make use of a special person , the traffic

deviate from the approved route . officials or even the police?-

(Mr. du Preez . )

Mr. Chairman there are three

transport inspectors appointed in my Department and they assist with the control of vehicles on the road , they check itineraries and they see to it that drivers do not deviate from their itineraries and they compare iteneraries with logsheets when they do periodical inspections .

We have also appealed to the Gazankulu Police that when

they hold roadblocks , when they encounter Gaz vehicles will they please check them to help us .

As far as my Department is concerned , within the department when

logsheets are returned are submitted with the itineraries that are authorised and they are compared , but each department has its own control measures , and logsheets eventually end-up in my department but not the itineraries .

We then check the

number of kilometres travelled by each department and make sure that the logsheets are properly completed at the end of the month .

9.

Mr. Mushwana . )

From the reply that Mr. du Preez has given us , Colonel Mathe

will you please explain to us whether your Department is willing to assist in this aspect should you be approached ?doing that in past .

(Colonel Mathe . )

Mr. Chairman , we have been

There are already cases of people who were found to have deviated

from their itinerarie , and these were reported to the Department of Works . s

10.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Do you know anything of that nature Mr. du Preez?-

(Mr. du Preez . )

I have not received anything recently Mr. Chairman .

11.

Mr. Ngobeni . )

logbook .

Mr. du Preez , I understand that each vehicle is supplied with a

The control over these logs , is it the responsibility of your Department or

that of the Departments to which these vehicles are allocated?-

(Mr. du Preez )

Mr. Chairman it is for each Department to exercise control of the information recorded in the logbooks and to compare them with the itineraries to find out if all journeys were authorised . 12/....

- 12 The completed logsheets eventually ends up in my Department where they are filed in the vehicles file , but we do not carry out any particular control of the kilometers travelled by each Department .

12.

Mr. Khosa . )

logsheets?-

Mr. du Preez , is proper control excercised by your Department on

( Mr du Preez . )

Mr. Chairman , in our Department at the end of the month

when logsheets are submitted for filling , they are submitted with approved itineraries for that month and they are compared in that way , and where

that have been issued

individuals have exceeded the reasonable kilometers expected of them , they are repremanded and necessary steps taken against them .

13 .

Mr. Hlayisi . )

Mr. du Preez , could you also explain under what circumstances

Government vehicles can be used to travel between the home and office of an official , or used during lunch hours for the purpose of having lunch?as

far

as

(Mr. du Preez.)

Mr. Chairman ,

the vehicles being used between home and office is concerned , it is

only for the officials who are on standby , those who receive a standby allowance , who are allowed to take vehicles home with them and also secretaries of Departments . The same do apply during luch time .

14.

Mr. Ngobeni )

-

Mr. Mativandlela , could you please also comment on this matter?

(Mr. Mativandlela . )

Thank you Mr. Chairman , I will comment in as far as my

Department is concerned .

Firstly the increase in number of kilometers travelled

should be read with the increase in number of vehicles allocated to the department . For example my Department had only 2 vehicles in 1981 but now it has got 21 , so you have got a large increase of vehicles of which each will add a large number of kilometers travelled .

Secondly when each vehicle travels , it is supposed to be

accompanied by an itinerary , and I could read here a circular which has been issued in this regard , for the information of the committee . 30 July 1981 and is still applicable even today .

The heading is " use of Departmental

It has been noticed that Departmental vehicles are used

vehicles and custody of keys . " random which is in itself an

This circular was issued on the

offence which is tantamount to misconduct .

Before a

vehicle is driven , make sure the level of oil , water , transmission oil is correct , check for possible dents , make sure the wheels are properly inflated and the spare wheel and If one of the items mentioned at ( 2 ) above is not in

jack is available and in order .

order or is not available , report the matter to the TRANSPORT OFFICER who will accompany you to verify and take the necessary steps to rectify the shortcoming . ssary to first have an itinerary Desertment .

The itinerary

section and Transport Officer .

It is nece-

before driving any of the vehicles allocated to this

should be signed by the requisitioner , the Head of the The purpose of the journey should be briefly sketched

13/....

. 13 -

on

the itinerary.

by all means .

Unnecessary Speeding and reckless driving should be avoided

Transgressors will be dealt with severely .

All keys of vehicles

should be handed over to the Transport Officer after use and the logbook completed and signed .

NO OFFICER , EXCEPT THE TRANSPORT OFFICER , IS PERMITTED TO

KEEP VEHICLE KEYS IN HIS CUSTODY . The

Department therefore pleads with all Government

vehicle users to take good care of the vehicles , take them for service when they are due and not when they are overdue , report any shortcomings discovered or observed . This will ensure longer life span and a faithful service .

Mr. Chairman that is the

circular regard the use of Government vehicles in our Department .

15.

Mr. Khosa . )

Mr. Vukela , your comment on the control of the kilometres covered

by Government and subsidised vehicle?-

(Mr. Vukela . )

Mr. Chairman , I must admit that

Mr. Mativandlela is one step ahead of me because he had brought the circular along , but we operate basically the same way as Mr. du Preez has indicated here .

We rely

mainly on the logsheets coupled with the itinerary that covers the trip that have been undertaken , and ofcourse Mr. Chairman , we have also issued circulars as to the specific use and specific care that should be taken over Government vehicles .

I

must also indicate Mr. Chairman that in the same fashion as the Department of Works does we have kilometers allocation to each and every vehicle and each and every officer knows how many kilometers he must travel within a month .

Actually the

kilometers are allocated on an annual basis , and then we divide them according to months . Again Mr. Chairman , we have introduced a system whereby during school holidays , school inspectors should ground their vehicles .

In the past we used to ask them to bring

their vehicles to head office , but we have realised that this was also contributory to excess kilometers when they drive their vehicles to head office .

We have decided

to make use of a transport officer to go out to the respective circuit offices to take note of the last reading on the speedo- reading , sothat he knows exactly that on such and such a date when the schools were closed , the inspectors was not active and his vehicle stoped at such and such kilometer reading .

Sothat on submission of the

next logsheets , he would be able to make spot checks to see to it that vehicles were not unofficially used .

As far as subsidized motor transport is concerned , only one

vehicle is in operation at the moment and that is the one used by myself.

All the

other subsidized vehicles have attained their kilometer life span and will not be replaced .

16.

Mr. Mushwana . )

(Mr. Vukela)

Is there any possibility that they will be replaced? -

There is no possibility as far as I know .

14/....

- 14 -

17.

Mr. Mushwana . )

or not?-

Are we doing away all together with the system of subsidising

(Mr. Vukela)

I do not know if I should give an answer to that , but this

is a policy matter handled by the Honourable the Chief Minister .

18.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Any comment Mr. du Preez?-

(Mr. du Preez)

Mr. Chairman , it is

a situation that I have come to in fairly newly , but shortly after my arrival I was informed that the Chief Minister , as a result of certain complains laid before him about the misuse of subsidised vehicles, has frozen the issue of subsidised vehicles and that for the present moment only the secretaries of departments will be allowed to own subsidised vehicles and that the subsidised vehicles in use at present be withdrawn as soon as they reach their kilometer life until such time that the Honourable Chief Minister himself is satisfied that the control of subsidised vehicles is effective .

19.

Mr. Marais , what is the position in the Department of Finance as

Mr. Khosa . )

far as

the controling of kilometres covered by official and subsidised vehicles is concerned .

You have also a number of financial inspectors who do a lot of travelling?

- (Mr . Marais)

Thank you Mr. Chairman .

For each trip in a government vehicle

allocated to my Department , an itinerary has to be completed by an official applying for the vehicle .

His

Section Head must recommend the necessity for the trip before

it is finally approved by the Department .

These itineraries are then being

submitted to the Transport Officer of my Department for control purposes and issue of the vehicle after the completion of the trips the itineraries are reconciled with the logsheets and any noticeable differences are then investigated .

As far

as subsidised transport is concerned I must mention that only one subsidised vehicle has been allocated to the Department of Finance , and this vehicle is being used by myself .

I also have to complete the logsheets for both official and private

trips undertaken on this vehicle .

The completed logsheets which forms part of my

monthly claim are submitted for checking and entering into a control register .

This

register is maintained by my Department for all subsidised vehicles of the government service .

20.

Mr. Hlaisi . )

somewhat subject ?-

Colonel Mathe , the control on Police and traffic vehicles may be

different from other departments . ( Colonel Mathe )

Could you please enlightened us on this

Thank you Mr. Chairman , In our Department we work

differently , we do not have itineraries because of the nature of our work , but the control of our vehicles comes in many ways .

In the first place before any driver

is allowed to drive a government vehicle , he is brought to head office where he is tested by myself or Colonel Sono , then if we find him fit , we issue him with an authority to drive.

15/...

- 15 -

The control of vehicles at station level , we use the ordinary logbooks together with the occurance book to book-out a vehicle .

If a man books to go and do duty

outside , he must first complete the necessary information in the logbook, he then hands in the logbook to the charge office , and then write all the particulars in the occurance book , there after is then that he could be issued with the key , because all the keys are kept locked at the charge office .

When he returns the officer

in charge enters the particulars in the occurance register , he inspects the car and if satisfied , he accepts the keys which are then locked in the charge office .

We have

also introduced a book , where the station commander inspects all the cars once a week and this register is kept at the station .

Wherever officers from Head Offices

do visit the station to do inspection , he inspects this register together with the logbook and then enters his findings in the inspection record book .

And also if an

officer books a vehicle to go and do an investigation of a crime outside , the crime has a number , the number is entered in the logbook to ensure that this official is out on official duty.

He has also a pocket book .

The particulars which are in his

logbook are also entered in this pocketbook as well as when he returns from investigation , he writes his information in the investigation diary in the docket which must be the same information as contained in the logbook .

All the logsheets , at the end of the

month are sent to head-office , where we have a team of men who must check them and compare them with the crime return because every station must also submit crime returns every month .

We then compare the milage with the number of crimes and

other work which had to be done during the month to ensure that these vehicles were used for government purposes only .

It is unfortunate that we do not allocate

specific kilometers to a vehicle like what is done in the other departments because some of these vehicles do patrol work and they must move for twenty four hours a day . Some of the areas which we do patrol are very wide , for instance , the Giyani area , sothat it is difficult to calculate bow many kilometers should be used a day .

All the

important areas like the dam , offices , substations , bridges etc. must be checked during the day as well as during the night . to traffic Inspectors .

This also apply to vehicles allocated

All these vehicles are packed at the police station and

when an officer goes out , he must

complete the logbook and hand it in to the

charge office man , who must then make a entry in the occurance book and then gives him the key.

When he returns the same procedute " is followed .

That is what we do

ensure the control of our vehicles .

21.

Mr. Mushwana . )

from your long

As a matter of follow -up to that Colonel Mathe , I would like to know experience as a police man as to whether you feel that our

vehicles at the police stations are properly used when you compare them with other places where you have worked?

16/....

- 16-

-

( Colonel Mathe

Mr. Chairman , I am of the opinion that they are properly

used , with the exception of recklessness which is difficult to control when an officer is alone outside , but we take certain steps .

For instance where a police

We have certain

officer is involved in an

accident , we then make a thorough investigation .

cases

are already paying for the damages they have caused .

22.

where officers

Mr. Chairman . )

From the discussion yesterday on the increased kilometers

travelled by subsidised and official vehicles , it appears that each department is responsible for the control of kilometers travelled by its vehicles . Mr. Matthews , how is control

exercised by your Department over the kilometers travelled by

Government and subsidised vehicles?-

(Mr. Matthews)

Mr. Chairman , before I start

I would like to thank the Honourable Members of the Committee , Mr. Erasmus

and the

Treasury, for assisting me by arranging that I give my evidence a bit earlier because of the predicament in which I find myself .

Mr. Chairman , before I give my answer ,

I would like to indicate that as a result of the increase in the functions and as a result of the development of Gazankulu many

different ways .

more vehicles are being used in

So you will find that in each department there is an increase in

milage because of the additional vehicles that are being used . exercises

How my Department

control over Government vehicles is by means of a logbook and an

itinerary .

No official may use a Government vehicle unless he is in possession of

an approved itinerary .

What we have instituted is that itineraries will be kept

and at the end of the month , they will be compared with logbooks to make sure that vehicles were used for approved purposes only .

I want to indicate to the

Committee that there are people who go off their approved itinerary , and what we are doing now is that we are charging them for driving the Government vehicles without the official consent .

23.

Mr. Mushwana . )

So in other words Mr. Matthews , stricter control measures are

being take to curb this situation ?-

( Mr. Matthews . )

We have to start a new

system whereby I check all the itineraries in an endeavor to try and curb this malpractice .

24.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Matthews , from your Department during the past financial

year did you notice any mishandling of Government vehicles?-

(Mr. Matthews)

Mr. Chairman , if I can comeback to the increase in milage , you know that last year we had this drought relief scheme on the go . checking of all the projects .

My Department was responsible for the

We had about five hundred projects to check .

Two of my

senior officer'as sole function was to go around checking if funds supplied were used solely for those projects . at my Department's side .

So we will have a tremendous increase of milage 17/....

- 17 -

25.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Matthews , we do understand that you have a minimum

number of vehicles so with the development projects that you had to see to it that they are carried out , this Committee will not grudge you on overspending on your milage?-

Mr. Chairman , we did not overspent on the milage ,

( Mr. Matthews . )

because we were doing functions for the other eight departments , we were checking their projects .

26.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Thank you Mr. Matthews .

(Chairman)

From the discussion

yesterday on the increased kilometers travelled by official vehicles , it appears that each Department is responsible for the control of kilometers travelled by the vehicles allocated to it .

27.

Mr. Hlayisi . )

Mr. van Dyk, could you also give an indication of the control

exercised by your Department in this regard?-

( Mr. van Dyk. )

Mr. Chairman , Yes ,

I can state that we have several control measures in this regard in operation in my Department namely: -

As already stated the km allocation to my staff has been

fixed at 2600 and 2000 km per month for senior and junior officials respectively . All officials of my department must submit an itinerary which must be approved by a Senior official before every trip is undertaken .

The anticipated kilometers that

will be travelled during a trip must be entered in the itinerary concerned and be checked according to the places to be visited . After each trip an entry must be made in the logbook of the vehicle concerned specifying the places visited and the kilometers travelled .

These particulars can of course be checked against the

itinerary which was approved before the trip .

The abovementioned measures apply to

departmental as well as to subsidised vehicles .

28 .

Mr. Ngobe

.)

Dr. Rober , are you sati sfied that sufficien t

contr i e ol s xercised t on the dista c b nce overed y official and subsidise vehicles ?- (Dr. Robert.) Yes , d The Mr. Chair , Offic trips by subsi v e h i cles are strictly controll . man ial dised ed trips are appro b m a m t only . As far as the ved y e nd y wo Assistant Secretari es other offic v a c ial ehicles re oncerned , the approval of official trips has been deleg t h o d ated o eads f ivisions /sections with the minimum rank of Principa Clerk l and equiv . At the hospi , only the Super a n d alent tals inten dent Secre may appro offic t . F t above one can see that the offi r r h i o e p m s tary ve ial cial trips under are stric contr . I w l t a t c d o i o d h uld ke d at ontrol oes not taken tly olled ni

mean preve

ntion

is conce rn

ed

of abuse that is alway

, I am satis fi

s

of a possi bi

. lity

But as far as contr ol

. ed

18/....

- 18 -

29.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Dr. Robert , according to the extensive nature of use of

vehicles for the type of your work that you are doing , especially hospitals and the clinics , do you feel that the transport that you have is adequate for the running of our health services? - ( Dr. Robert . )

30.

Mr. Mushwana . )

It is not adequate , Mr. Chairman .

travelled

Dr. Robert , what about the kilometers that you

at the moment , do you feel that you should be allowed more kilometers or less? - (Dr. Robert )

Mr. Chairman , it depends , it varies from place to place .

places , the nursing activities are hampered by the lack of vehicles . control at clinics or certain

In some

Especially the

visits which should be done to the community , to

check on the work done by nurses and community health nurses .

31.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Dr. Robert , what are you doing about it now?-

(Dr. Robert)

Mr. Chairman , we have asked repeatedly for more vehicles year after year , but due to the present financial climate we are not able to get the number of vehicles that we

This is due to the lack of funds .

require .

32.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Chairman , I am not getting out of

the kilometer issue that

we are discussing but there are certain sections which must be given special You got some instances where nurses stay very far away from the

attention . hospital .

Dr. Robert , how do you account for these kilometers when these people

are transported?-

( Dr. Robert.)

Mr. Chairman , this is a different point , which in

some hospitals there is persistence to transport the nursing staff to and from their homes .

This practice has been terminated in most hospitals but persist at

Nkhensani and Shiluvane .

We have approached the Cabinet to have that practice

terminated sothat we will have uniformity in all our hospitals .

We did send a memorandum

before to the Cabinet , which was turned down because there was not enough information .

The information which the Cabinet needed had since been submitted .

It is also our feeling that such practice should be terminated immediately.

Outstanding Revenue ( Paragraph II ( 2 ) ( a ) page 5 )

33.

Mr. Chairman . )

Mr. Mativandlela , could you please give more details in

respect of the increase of the outstanding amount of R20 079 ? - ( Mr. Mativandlela . ) Mr. Chairman , the increase of the outstanding amount is attributable to those people who purchased sites but neither developed the sites nor paid rent and services . These amount had to

sites had then

accumulate and thus increase the outstanding amounts .

The

to be repossessed by the Government , especially in Giyani .

19/....

- 19 -

Vote 2

34.

Interior ( Paragraph 18 ( 1 ) page II )

Mr. Chairman . )

Mr. Mativandlela , from the statement on Townships it appears that

an amount of R11 735 in respect of rent and service charges was outstanding for more than six months .

Are effective steps taken to have these amounts recovered?-

(Mr. Mativandlela . )

Yes Mr. Chairman , the revenue which had been outstanding for more

than six months have now been recovered .

The people who ignored our notices were

eventually served with summons in the different districts to appear before the Court of Law .

The outstanding moneys were thus recovered .

Appropriation Account ( Page 13 )

35.

Mr. Chairman . )

Mr. Mativandlela , from the appropriation account , it appears

that large savings occur under programmes 3 , 4 and 6 to 9. further on these savings ?-

( Mr. Mativandlela . )

Could you please elaborate

Mr. Chairman ,

PROGRAMME 3 : POPULATION AFFAIRS

Provision had been made in the budget for possible by - elections during the financial year 1982/83 .

Only one by-election took place during the year .

been provided could thus not be all utilized . also paid from programme 2 which has an excess .

The funds which had

The salary of a senior officer was This was a technical fault which

happened .

PROGRAMME 4 : LABOUR AFFAIRS

The saving occurred as a result of the salary of a Senior Officer in this programme which was paid from programme 2.

PROGRAMME 6 :

Programme 2 was overdrawn as a result .

CONTROL OF TOWNS

The Towns took over the function of purchasing materials for themselves .

However , the

staff had not been trained and no contracts had been made with the local suppliers . The training and arrangement of contracts delayed the utilisation of the funds which had been allocated to the towns . officials also attributed could not be found .

a town manager .

The deaths and the transfer of several senior

directly

to the savings because suitable replacements

There was a stage during the past year where we did not even have

We had to use ordinary grade II clerks to run the towns .

20/....

- 20 -

PROGRAMME 7 :

REMOVALS

The construction of a school and a reservoir at Burlington could not be completed during the year .

The people at Andover and Leamington could thus not be removed

because the necessary and basic facilities at Burlington had not been completed .

The

funds for compensating these people had to be suspended , but the Treasury limited the suspension of these funds - hence the large saving in this programme .

To add Mr.

Chairman , I may mention that it is a rule that we do not pay before a person is moved .

PROGRAMME 8 : PENSIONS

The amount of R7 600,000,00 had originally been budgeted for paying allowance to pensioners .

The Central Government anounced the general increase of pension allowances

from R73-00 to R91-00 which took effect from 1 October 1982.

There has also been two

bonuses which were paid to each pensioner in May and November 1982.

The total

additional amount of R1 574 000,00 was granted for the general increase and bonus . The total expenditure for pensions amounted to R8 527 239,85 .

It follows then that

the original amount budgeted for pensions had been used up plus an amount of R927 239,85 of the additional amount .

The balance could thus not be used up despite

the fact that new applications had been taken up .

PROGRAMME 9 :

RELATED SERVICES

The saving is due to the suspension of the amount of R228 000,00 for the following : R150 000,00 - had been suspended for the purchase of office furniture for the Department of Works which had not yet been completed .

R70 000,00- had been suspended

for the installation of P.A.B.X. to the same Department of Works .

R8 000,00- had been

suspended for the purchase of office furniture for the Secretary for Planning and Co-ordinating section attached to the Department of the Chief Minister , Economic Affairs and Police .

He was appointed towards the end of

the financial year and the

suppliers indicated that the furniture would be delivered in the new financial year .

36.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Mativandlela , with reference to programme 6 , it appears that

certain services could not be rendered due to the takeover townships as well as the training of staff . of these services?-

(Mr. Mativandlela . )

of certain functions by

Could you give an indication of the nature

During the time of take over , the staff at

the towns had not been orientated on the use of order books , maintenance of Commitment registers , interpretation of contracts , exemptions , follow up on ordered material 21 /....

- 21 -

and proper planning of what purchases entails .

This , coupled with the transfer and

the catastrophic deaths of several senior officials at the Towns ( e.g. 5 at Giyani only ) , resulted in the delay in utilizing the allocated funds .

The remaining staff

could not do the work which had previously been allocated to those that either passed away or transferred .

Some of contracts e.g. contracts for tools had been cancelled .

The contractors for removing refuse had to be cancelled for failing to keep their contracts e.g. at Thulamahashe .

37.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Funds were thus not fully utilized .

I am a bit more concerned about the freezing of the removal of

refuse in some townships Mr. Chairman , was not this a sort of health hazard to the community?

what steps were taken to eliviate this problem · (Mr. Mativandlela . )

Mr. Chairman , we have two instances , at Thulamahashe the man did not do the work at all , then the council complained and at that stage we were fortunate to be supply with a new tractor and trailer , so we got a driver and sent the tractor and trailer to Thulamahashe , it is then that the refuse was removed .

The second instance was

here at Giyani , the contracter has been appointed , he also failed to carry out his job , then we have the Tender Board cancel the contract and we had to reappoint somebody new , sothat in both instances the public , if there were any difficulties , was just a matter of days before the matter was rectified .

38.

Mr. Ngobeni . )

Mr. Mativandlela , in connection with programme 7 could you please

give an indication of the facilities which delayed the removal of the people and what progress has been made tot have the people removed?-

(Mr. Mativandlela . )

The basic

facilities which delayed the removal of people at Andover and Leamington are the construction of a water reservoir , the construction of a replacement school and the opening up of access roads and streets at Burlington .

The people have been

removed and compensated for during the financial year 1983/84 .

39.

Mr. Khosa . )

Mr. Mativandlela , - in connection with pensions , what procedure is

followed by your Department indealing with applications for pensions ?- ( Mr. Mativandlela ) The applications for : pensions are first of all directed to , and considered by the Magistrates .

From the Magistrate's offices the applications are directed to my

Department for final consideration and processing for payment .

Wrongly completed

forms are referred back to the Magistrate's offices for correction .

The same

procedure is followed for those applicants who do not as yet qualify for pension benefits .

Successful applications are processed by my Department and then

forwarded to the Department of Finance for payment .

22 /....

- 22 -

Outstanding Revenue (Paragraph 11 (2 ) ( a ) Page 5)

40 .

Mr. Ngobeni )

Mr. Du Preez , could you please explain the nature of the

outstanding amount of R48 281 ?-

(Mr. Du Preez . )

Mr. Chairman , the sum of

R48 281 was made out of the outstanding electricity accounts in respect of the following :-

Giyani Crushers

R8 427,80

Giyani Hotel

R8 520,10

Fumani Gold Mine

R1 588,08

STDC Business Centre

R5 390,40

Giyani Bakery

R

Louis More Mine

R1 765,60

Kulunghisa Garage

RI 020,68

741,48

R19 981,00

Department of Water Affairs

S.A.B.C. Giyani

R

Giyani Abattoir

7,37

R 839,24 R48 281,75

This amount was only outstanding at the end of the Financial Year ending 31/3/1983 and has since been recovered .

I must add furthermore that the responsibility of

collecting electricity revenue has been transferred to the Department of the Interior with effect from the 1st April , 1983 .

41.

Mr. Hlayisi . )

We may find out from the Secretary of the Interior as whether

this outstanding revenue has been recovered ?-

(Mr. Mativandlela)

Mr. Chairman , in

as far as we could trace the consumers , the amount owing has been recovered unless the consumer has disappear.- ( Mr. du Preez)

Mr. Chairman , to add on that , these were the

amounts which were received after the closing of the books that is why they are shown as outstanding , the amounts had already been recovered .

42 .

Mr. Mushwana)

Mr. Mativandlela , seeing that this matter of electricity has been

transferred to the Department of the Interior , have you now got proper control over (Mr. Mativandlela)

the payment of electricity bills? -

The bills are being paid monthly .

43.

Mr.

Mushwana . )

Mr. Chairman , we have .

If anybody fails to pay , we do disconnect immediately.-

So Mr. Mativandlela , we can take it as that proper followup is

being done at the moment ?-

( Mr. Mativandlela )

Yes Mr. Chairman .

We give our people

five days , after that we disconnect . 23/....

- 23 -

Vote 3 · Works ( Paragraph 19 ( 1 ) page 15 )

44 .

Mr. Khosa . )

Mr. Du Preez , according to the Report a personal debt of

R3 324 which became prescribed was written off during the year . more details please? -

(Mr. Du Preez )

Could you furnish

Mr. Chairman , the sum of R3 324 which became

prescribed and written off originated from the sum of money owed by Mr. Shiringani M.J. who was working , in this department and misappropriated Government funds during 1977/78 financial year and was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment , and was subsequently discharged from the Public Service .

The Department referred this case

to the Department of Justice for legal advice , and the said department also sought the Attorney General's opion which stated that since the amount has become prescribed it could not be recovered . was not possible

Since the officer had to serve his term of imprisonment , it

to recover any money from him .

His whereabouts is not known

to this department , and the amount of R3 324 is the balance of the original amount written off

45.

after his pension contributions were withheld

Mr. Mushwana . )

and deducted .

Mr. Du Preez , from the statement on motor accidents it appears Could you please

that there is a considerable increase in the number of accidents .

furnish particulars of the eleven cases where vehicles were used irregularly?( Mr. Du Preez . )

Mr. Chairman , in the following instances vehicles were misused or In these cases the officers concerned were found without

irregularly used .

approved itineraries and authorities .

In some cases they were found having deviated

from their route , and were there upon made to pay for the losses incurred . 1.

N.S. Sithole GAZ 4-243

R1 580,22

2.

T. Hlungwani GAZ 3-170

R1 090,67

3.

E.C. Shivambu GAZ 6-387

R 945,23

4.

M.G. Risimati GAZ 6-528

Pending

5,

J. Mhlarhi GAZ 3-508

R

136,22

6.

M.S. Mashele GAZ 4-89

R

326,21

7.

R. Mantsina

R

632,03

8.

P. Shilubane GAZ 5-291

9.

E. Gazide GAZ 7-761

GAZ 3-166

10.

E. Makhubele GAZ 3-56

11 .

T.S. Nkuna GAZ 7-93

46 .

Mr. Hlayisi . )

R2 734,80 R1 386,91 Pending Warned

Mr. Chairman , still on the same subject , Colonel Mathe , do you

have any comment pertaining your Department ?-

(Colonel Mathe.)

Mr. Chairman , concerning

24/...

- 24 -

our Department we have a man paying for the damage he has made while he was involved in an accident .

It is unfortunate that I did not bring my statistics along .

Secondly we had an officer who had to pay who used the vehicle without authority .

47 .

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. du Preez , I am a bit more concerned about the case of

T.S. Nkuna , could you please give us more details on it ?- ( Mr. du Preez )

Mr.

Chairman , from what I can recall it involves an amount of seven rand thirty eight cents .

Appropriation Account ( Page 17 )

48 . mmes

Mr. Hlayisi . ) 3, 4 and 6

during the year .

Mr. Du Preez , I

n otice that large savings occurred under progra-

which were due mainly to projects which could not be completed Could you please furnish details ?-

(Mr. Du Preez . )

Mr. Chairman ,

the savings under programmes 3 , 4 and 6 were for the completion of the following projects : -

Giyani District

Giyani Technical Institute - Hostels which are now completed Elim Theatre block- which has been completed Thomo- Gaula Road- which is now already 55% completed Youth Action ( not yet started ) no site yet and could not be done Primary school at Giyani D- which is about 98% completed Giyani Landing strip - which has since been completed Retension for Electrical workshop-which has since been paid Housing in Giyani- which are completed Government Buildings Phase I · which has been completed Office Furniture- which has since been bought Motor vehicles- which were bought later

Malamulele District

Reticulation and transformers- which is 80% completed but still on Housing in Malamulele- which we are still

busy with

and Water Works - Levubu- which we have completed Ritavi District Housing · which has already been completed Nkowankowa Waterworks ( Purification ) - which has been completed Nwanedzi Bridge- which has been completed Retension- Steel structure which has since been paid 25/....

- 25 -

Mhala District

Thulamahashe substation- which has been completed Tintswalo Water Purification- which has also been completed Calcutta-Madras Road- which

is already completed

Sand River Bridge which is already completed Acornhoek-Tintswalo line which is about 45% completed Burlington school- which is also about 98% completed Dwarsloop water purification works- which was commissioned on the 23/2/84 Housing for Mhala district which have been completed Thulamahashe water purification- which has been completed . Some of the projects fall within the perennial projects such as the Giyani - Malamulele Road , Pipe line D and Reservoir , Government Buildings , Nwanedzi Bridge , Thulamahashe substation , Nkowankowa water purification etc. payment of retensions .

Money was also suspended for the

Additional funds were made available to my department very late

in the year that it was not possible to start with some of the projects in time , such as funds for housing and schools .

In some cases the projects could not get off

the ground because planning was still underway such as the Youth Movement .

49.

Mr. Hlayi

.)

Mr. Marai , I want to know if these savin h n e o s gs as o ffect n

si

the follo wi

finan

Mr. Chair

year'

cial

ng

, the posit

s

budge , if any Depar s ?t tment aves

(Mr. Marai .) s

is that the Depar

were allow u t n t a ed p o ow o pply s to the Treas f t s o f , in order to enabl them to conti ury or he uspension f unds e nue with their proje in the ensui finan which are suspe year . Those amoun , cts ng cial ts nded are being alloc a i t A A Bill of the succe ated gain n he dditional ppropria eding tion finan y of Works may apply to suspe a a cial ear . For instance , the Departme nd n mount nt of R5 000 000 , due to the fact that they will not be in a posi tion to complete some man

ion

of the proje c

The five milli o

. ts

finan

n

Addit

cial'

s

tment

ional

rand is then reall o

Appro

cated

priat

Act

to enabl

e

in the succe

them to final

ion

ize

eding their proje

. cts

Outstanding Revenue ( Paragraph 11 ( 2 ) ( a ) page 5

50.

Mr. Khosa . ) Mr. Vukela , could you also give an indication of the nature

of the outstanding amount of R935,00 ? -

(Mr. Vukela . )

Mr. Chairman , the outstanding

amount of R935,00 was due to boarding fees and has since been recovered and paid into the Revenue Account .

Mr. Chairman we make a monthly follow - up , such any outstanding

amounts are collected .

26 /....

- 26 -

Vote 4- Education ( Paragraph 20 ( 1 ) page 18 )

51.

Chairman . )

Mr. Vukela , could you please give more details in respect of the

nature of the 803 bursaries paid to scholars and students?-

(Mr. Vukela . )

Mr.

Chairman , these bursaries are paid to those who intend to study at Colleges or Universities to become teachers and to outstanding pupils in standard 9 and 10 .

52.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Vukela , I want to know as to what criteria is used when these

bursaries are awarded ?

For we may find that we give bursaries to people who want to

study for medicine or B.S.C. , do we ever look into national necessity?- ( Mr. Vukela ) Mr. Chairman , we as the Department of Education , we are mainly concerned with the teaching profession . Department of Health .

So those who follow a medical course will be aided by the We are mainly keen on promoting those teachers who want

to qualify in those scarce subjects like science , mathematics etc.

53.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Vukela , may I say that in other words we are looking in

those fields which we are actually lacking , and then award bursaries accordingly ?(Mr. Vukela . )

54.

Yes Mr. Chairman .

Mr. Mushwana . )

Point of interuption Mr. Chairman , there is still something

I want to know concerning bursaries .

Mr. Vukela , we are giving bursaries to

students who want to become teachers , are all the students who are in our colleges of education awarded bursaries ?-

55.

Mr. Mushwana . )

(Mr. Vukela . )

Yes Mr. Chairman .

Mr. Vukela, how long are we going to continue giving bursaries .

Will we still do it even when we see that we have surplus teachers , or is this going to be carried out to a certain extend then stopped? -

( Mr. Vukela

Mr. Chairman , I

think this will be continued until that time when we will be satisfied .

Mr. Chairman ,

the position is that we are handling two problems now , in the first instance , we still have a backlog of quite a number of unqualified teachers , so we are trying to phase out the unqualified teachers .

In the second instance , we are trying to keep

pace with the annual increase of the children who are

admitted

to each and

every school every year , and our increase is at a rate of about ten thousand every year .

56.

Mr. Mushwana . )

place ?- ( Mr. Vukela

Mr. Vukela , so in your opinion , how long will this process take Mr. Chairman , this is a long term process , and I can not give

27/....

- 27 -

a haphazard reply.

Outstanding Revenue ( Paragraph 11 ( 2 ) ( a ) page 5 )

57.

Mr. Ngobeni . )

Mr. Marais , from the Report it appears that assessments for

special tax and dipping and grazing fees for 1983 were not issued during the year under review .

Could you please furnish reasons for this?-

(Mr. Marais.)

Mr. Chairman , tax assessments for any tax year are issued after the close of that tax year .

For the 1982/83 tax year special tax assessments aught to have been issued

on 1 March 1983 or as soon as possible thereafter .

However , as a result of

problems encountered with the conversion of computer programmes during March 1982 , various computer programme systems fell so much in arrear so that by March 1983 we were still bringing these

programme systems up to date .

1982/83 were finaly issued during September 1983.

The assessments for

Mr. Chairman , I am glad to inform

the Committee that assessments for the 1983/84 tax year were

issued during April 1984 .

Revenue ( Paragraph 11 ( 1 ) page 5

58 .

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Marais , according to paragraph 11 of the Report , the net

excess of R7 988 832 on ordinary revenue represents 42 per cent of the total estimates .

(Mr. Marais)

Could you please explain the reasons for the large variation ? -

Thank you Mr. Chairman , the excess on ordinary revenue of R7 988 832 is mainly attributable to General Tax on Income .

This tax is collected from tax payers who

derives their incomes within Gazankulu by my Department and , for all Shangaan /Tsonga people who derive their incomes in the R.S.A. the Department of Co - operation and Development collects the tax on our behalf .

The majority of our people Mr. Chairman ,

derive their incomes from sources within the R.S.A. and as such , the greatest portion of this tax is collected on our behalf by the Department of Co- operation and Development .

The Department of Co - operation and Development accordingly estimates , according to its experience , what amount Gazankulu can expect from this source of revenue and advise us of the amount which we must include in our estimates of revenue . therefore rely on their experience when budgeting for this revenue head .

We Thank you

Mr. Chairman .

Appropriations withheld or suspended by the Treasury ( Paragraph 14 page 6 )

28 /....

- 28 -

59

Chairman . )

From the Report it appears that a large amount of R6 711 667,19

was suspended by the Treasury . in detail in this regard ?-

Could the Treasury

( Mr. Nkuna . )

please outline its function

Thank you Mr. Chairman , the powers of the

Treasury concerning the suspension of funds are contained in section 8 of the Exchequer and Audit Act , 1975 which inter alia states that an appropriation by an appropriation Act shall be construed as merely

indicating the maximum amount which

may be utilized and the Treasury may limit the credits to the amounts which in its opinion will be sufficient for the purpose or service in a particular financial year .

Mr. Chairman , Gazankulu is a developing

area and there are many public

projects which must be undertaken and completed .

It is in the opinion of the Treasury

of vital importance that all projects which are started be completed .

In the light

of the foregoing Mr. Chairman , the Treasury does entertain well motivated applications for the suspension of funds to ensure that projects are completed and that existing services are continued with .

Vote 8- Finance ( Paragraph 24 ( 1 ) page 27 )

60 .

Mr. Marais , from the Report it appear that R9 859 was writte n s

Mr. Hlayis . ) i

of income tax . Could you please give more detail ?s

off in respec

t

( Mr. Marais . )

relate to the late Mr. , the income tax in questi s on an man at Mhala Distri . For the 1979/80 , who was a busine ct ss

Thank you Mr. Chairm M.M. Madons

ele

tax years the tax payer did not submit his income tax return . 1 a s 1 nd 981/82 . As were issued by my Depart tax asses a result thereo , estima sment ment f ted s

1980/8 As

o t a w t , my Depar u remain tment ogether ith nofficial f he ed npaid s a i o carri and Develo o Co - operat Tax Divisi , Depart ed ut n nspection pment ment f ion on durin It was establ 1 N d p t o t at the busin g ess f he ax ayer uring ovember 982. ished

these asses

sment

Mr. Chairm , that the tax payer passed away during 1979 and his an went bankru . His wife was still living in buildi subse busin quent ess ng pt ly and there was also no stock in the shop . From the to the shop buildi adjace ng nt that inspec t

ion

tax payer did not Mr. Chairm , it is clear that the deceas ed an ation tax asses for the above tax years and the estima a tax liabil sment ted ity s

above inform incur

.

had to be withd

rawn

Appropriation Account ( Page 28 )

61.

Mr. Khosa . )

Mr. Marais , I notice that the savings on programmes 2 and 3 are

due mainly to an over - estimation on personnel expenditure . budgeting

(Mr. Marais . )

Is this not bad

Thank you Mr. Chairman , the savings on programmes

and 3 are not a result of over - estimation on personnel expenditure .

As you are 29/....

2

- 29

aware Mr. Chairman , on budgeting for salaries , the average scales of the various posts in a vote are used to arrive at the total

personnel expenditure .

The estimates are

in no way influenced by posts which are ( a ) vacant or may become vacant during part of a financial year and /or posts which are not suitably filled . two situations occur , savings on personnel expenditure result .

Should anyone of the

The savings on

programmes 2 and 3 are mainly due to posts which were not suitably filled during part of the financial year .

I may just add , Mr. Chairman , that in a relatively small

vote like Finance , two or three

posts which are not suitably filled influences

savings to a greater extend , percentage wise , compared to a relatively bigger vote like Education .

Thank you Mr. Chairman .

State Debt ( Paragraph 6 page 3 )

62.

Mr. Chairman . )

According to the Report , State Debt increased by R8 250 000.

Mr. Marais, could you please give reasons why additional loans had to be made by the Government ?-

(Mr. Marais)

Thank you Mr. Chairman , the Gazankulu Cabinet

approved the raising of a loan of R8 250 000 in terms of the Gazankulu General Loans Act , 1973 as amended , in order to finance certain capital projects which could not be financed from available financial resources .

The amount of R8 250 000 relate

to the following capital projects : The Construction of Nkowankowa Water Works

R1 320 000

"1 Dwarsloop Sewerage Works

850 000

་་

Elim Hospital Buildings

500 000

"

"1

Giyani Malamulele Road

850 000

"

་་

New Roads- Giyani

855 000

"

"1

New Roads- Ritavi

466 000

"

" Levubu Pump station

470 000

New Roads- Mhala

370 000

"

"1

The building of dwelling houses in Gazankulu Towns

1 050 000

The Construction of Thulamahashe Water Works

1 519 000

Total

R8 250 000

The loan was split into two parts namely R3 750 000 and R4 500 000 . applicable to the first part of the loan i.e. the R3 750 000

Conditions

are as follows : -

30/....

- 30 -

Interest rate - 12,75% and the term

of 10 years and interest rate of 13% and a term

of 20 years in respect of the R4 500 000.

I may just add Mr. Chairman , that the interest

rate on both loans is considered as fair and reasonable . from the Barclays Merchant Bank LTD .

63.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Both loans were raised

Thank you Mr. Chairman .

Mr. Marais , since this loan fund is intergrated into the normal

budgeting , how are the funds controlled in the Exchequer?-

(Mr. Marais . )

Mr.

Chairman , I hope you will have noticed that most of the projects are included in Vote 3- works .

The Department of Works is the one which is responsible for the construction

of the required structures .

As far as the capital and interest redemption is concerned ,

the amounts are provided under Vote 10- Loan Funds and that is being controlled by myself.

64.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Marais , could I say that everything which is under loan funds

is being controlled by the Department of Works , for the various Departments ?( Mr. Marais . )

That is true Mr. Chairman .

It depends on which Department initiated

the negotiation of loan for a specific project .

If it is an agricultural project , the

funds will be included under Vote 5- Agriculture . funds will be with the Department of Agriculture.-

Then the control of those ( Mr. Mushwana . )

I will really

appreciate comments from any of the other secretaries regarding these loan funds . (Mr. du Preez )

Mr. Chairman , I think that is purely a matter of coincidence

that all the projects financed from loan funds are found under the Department of Works . It is not a matter of must .

When this particular loan was negotiated it just

happened by coincidence that all the projects intended to be undertaken , fell under the Department of Works.

65

Mr.

Mushwana . )

Mr.

Chairman , I would further like to know if this loan was

raised in consultation with the other Departments ?-

(Mr. Mativandlela . )

Yes

Mr. Chairman , it is so .

Mr. Bakkes . )

Mr. Chairman , may I clarify you about this problem .

that normally a Government incur

The fact is

a loan on Capital works that it wants done , and

capital works are normally controlled by the Department of Works . do not come into picture in as far as loans are concerned .

So your other Departments

(Mr. Marais )

Mr. Chairman ,

if I can just add to what Mr. Bakkes has just said , I would like to inform you that the Act also prescribe that the loan could only be raised for capital projects , that is the General loans Act of 1972 .

31 /....

- 31 -

Vote 9- Police ( Paragraph 25 page 30 )

66.

Mr. Chairman . )

Colonel Mathe , I notice that the total savings on your Vote is

approximately 28% which are regarded as fairly high . (Colonel Mathe . )

Could you please explain?-

In the 1981/82 budget provision was made for the taking over of

the Police stations Saselamani , Hlanganani and Calcutta from the South African Police . This necessitated that an increased amount be budgeted for salaries , allowances , uniform, transport etc.

Through unforseen circumstances the handing over of these

three Police stations only took place on 1/6/82 .

It must be borne in mind that the

budget is prepared well in advance and it was assumed at that time that the three Police stations will be taken over during the period of the 1981/82 budget- year . If it is taken into account that the Gazankulu Police at that time only had four Police stations it cannot be considered unreasonable to have a surplus amounting to 28,39% of the budget .

Gifts by the Government ( Paragraph 10 page 5)

67.

Mr. Chairman . )

Mr. Matthews , I notice that several gifts were made to

various instances by your Department . thereof?-

(Mr. Matthewa)

Could you please stress the importance

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee , donations were

made to deserving instances .

For example :

a Priest with exceptional talent in music .

The Evangilical Church in He is a Gazankulu citizen .

R500 to support him with the purchase of musical instruments .

S.A. had He was given

A local Soccer Club

was promoted to the Second Division of the National Professional Soccer League . This was an exceptional achievement .

It was assisted with an amount R2 300,00 as the

Government was of the opinion that soccer was a means of educating and developing the people .

A grant of R10 000,00 was made to the Gazankulu Society on Alcoholism .

Many of our people receive treatment at this institution and have been cured . an institution which is performing work of a high standard . granted to a student who excelled in Mathematics .

It is

An amount of R100 was

This student obtained the highest

marks in the Matriculation examination in Mathematics .

R10 000,00 was granted for the

development of the training centre at Ritavi , Rev. Kubayi was handling the issue . Originally the Church was going to erect this training centre and in the process people collected some funds and the church withdrew .

We have given Rev. Kubay ten

thousand rand , and I have made a follow-up the amount has not yet been spent .

32/....

- 32 -

The funds are still in the bank and we are going to assist them to erect that training centre for the people of Nkowankowa .

The twenty

five thousand rand was the

Government's contribution towards the Gazankulu exhibition at the Pretoria show . Shangaan Tsonga Development Corporation and the Government exhibited things produced by the people of Gazankulu at the Pretoria show , in an endeavour to get the people from the Republic of South Africa to come and invest in Gazankulu and to give the industrialists an idea of what they can do here .

The amount of R4 000,00 was given

to Ximoko xa Rixaka , as you know it is a movement aided by the Government , the money was granted originally to enable them to purchase receipts books , for we were afraid that if people collect the funds for this movement without receipts books , the money may fall away before it reaches the coffers of Ximoko xa Rixaka .

Those were the

funds that we have granted as gifts during this financial year .

68.

Mr. Mushwana . )

As a follow-up Mr. Chairman , Mr Matthews , this Gasa , we are

actually giving them the money for a purpose .

Do we make any follow - up to see if those

funds are being used for the purpose it was meant for? .Chairman , we do make follow- up .

Mr.

(Mr. Matthews

I may also indicate that Gasa even invited us for

the opening of the building they have erected .

69.

Mr. Mushwana . )

properly utilized ?

So in your opinion Mr. Matthews , you feel that these funds are ( Mr. Matthews

Mr. Chairman , we make follow- ups even with our

community development , the funds which we donate to tribal authorities etc , we check the projects to see to it that the funds are used for the purposes they were meant for .

For in the past we discovered that if we give the money to the tribal

authority , the Chief then decide to use the money for something else .

So

we

check every sent that we give to make sure that it is used for the purpose we donated for .

If we do find that the money is used for something else , we force

the community to refund and then use the money for the purpose we have intended to do .

70.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Pretoria show ,

on that issue ?-

Mr. Chairman , what I wanted to make a follow- up on is the

where we actually paid R25 000,00 . Mr. Matthews , can you elaborate (Mr. Matthews-)

In actual fact it cost us R50 000-00 to have a stall

at the Pretoria show , and in that stall you show everything that is being produced in Gazankulu .

All the details that the industrialist will need to know , for instance

the advantage that he can get if we

decide to invest in Gazankulu was also indicated

in that show hall . 33/....

- 33 -

During that night we had a luncheon with fifty industrialists , where the Chief Minister addressed them as to what privileges come and invest in Gazankulu .

and what incentives are available for them to

Due to that , after the luncheon we had 13 applications

of industrialists who were interested .

I only do not know at present how many has

already moved to Gazankulu .

71 .

Mr. Mushwana . )

shows?-

Mr. Matthews , in other words our people are benefiting from these

(Mr. Matthews )

Yes Mr. Chairman .

I wish to indicate that we also bought a

stall at the Rand Easter Show , although this particular show was not done during the financial year in review , I wish

Vote 1

72.

to indicate the importance of these shows .

Chief Minister and Economic Affairs

Mr. Chairman . )

Mr. Matthews , I notice that 227 bursaries were paid to students .

Could you please give an indication of the nature of these bursaries?-

(Mr. Matthews

Mr. Chairman , the bursaries were given to students to further their studies in various fields of Education .

I may also point out that a follow up to see that the students

comply with their bursary agreement is made and it has been a success .

The improved

salary structures also helped to lure back those students who were not prepared to honour their bursary agreements .

In the past we used to find that many students , as It was a

soon as they qualified , were not keen to honour their bursary agreements .

habit mostly among medical doctors to pay us back the amount given to him instead of coming to serve his contract .

The firms outside also used to lure the students and

they were also very willing to refund the amounts owed by our students .

The bursaries

were granted for student in almost every field , that is technical and academic .

For

an example , medical , science , economics , administration , agriculture , engineering , law , education etc. 73.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Chairman , I

think this question of bursaries was elaborated in

Parliament yesterday by the Chief Minister .

Never the less , Mr Matthews , could you

please give an indication of the policy followed when awarding bursaries ?(Mr. Matthews)

Mr. Chairman , when a man applies for a bursary , what normally happens

is that he applies to his Department , his department will then refer his application to the Public Service Commission if he is a public servant .

When the applicant is

not a public servant , he applies direct to the Public Service Commission .

The

Public Service Commission has a Committee which scrutinizes all bursary applications and recommend according to merit or academic records .

That is all applicants with an

outstanding academic record get first preference .

34/....

- 34 -

74.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr Matthews ,

are these bursaries approved by the Cabinet or are

they handled on the Departmental level only?-

( Mr. Matthews)

bursaries are handled by the Public Service Commission only .

No Mr. Chairman , the The recommendations of

Departments on the applications in case of a Public Servant are taken into consideration , for it will not help us to grant a bursary to an officer if his department is not willing to release him . some of the Departments even do

We do have a little bit of a problem , for

recommend bursary for alcoholics and if the

application is turned down , they do run to the politicians or the Cabinet to try and push their case .

75.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Mr. Chairman , for the interest of this Committee , I want to know

if these bursaries are not run by a central organisation ?-

(Mr. Matthews) Mr.

Chairman , it is run by the Public Service Commission .

76.

Mr. Matthews , are applications submitted to the Public Service

Mr. Mushwana . )

Commission for approval ?-

77.

Mr. Mushwana . )

( Mr. Matthews)

Mr. Matthews , are reasons stated on the application why an

applicant needs a bursary? (Mr. Mushwana)

Yes Mr. Chairman .

(Mr. Matthew ) Reasons are stated Mr. Chairman .

If so Mr. Chairman , I do not forsee any problem . - (Mr. Matthews)

While still on this bursary issue Mr. Chairman , I want to indicate that the Chief Minister did try to look into it .

He is perturbed because some officials to whom we do give

bursaries go to the universities and play instead of learning . try

to reapply

for a bursary .

nted bursaries, but now

When they do fail they

In the past , some applicants were reconsidered and gra-

we have stopped that practice .

When an officer or an

applicant who was granted a bursary do fail , he has to repeat his studies without a bursary aid , if he do pass when he repeat , then we can reconsider him again for a bursary .

78.

Mr.

Mushwana . )

Thank you for that comment Mr. Matthews because we feel

definitely that State money

must be used for a good course .

If a man is allocated

a bursary and he goes to the university to play , definitely it stands to reason that the Government cannot continue to fund for him .

Only those people whom we feel they

could be of any service to the country that could be given a bursary . to know what happens to the money you have already paid in? .-

But I want

(Mr. Matthews

35/....

- 35 -

Mr : Chairman , that we have lost.-

(Mr. Marais) Mr. Chairman , I may point out that he

is bound by the contracte to serve the Government for some specified number of years .

Appropriation Account ( Page 10 )

79 .

Mr. Chairman . )

Mr. Matthews , according to the appropriation account , savings

occurred under programmes 3 and 4 which are more or less 73% and 31 % , respectively . Could you please elaborate further on the reasons for these large savings?(Mr. Matthews)

Mr. Chairman , the saving under programme 3- Authority Affairs - is

due mainly to an amount of R700 000 which could only be made available during March 1983 for drought relief .

The money could not be used in one month so application was

made to Finance to carry the amount over to 1983/84 financial year .

The saving

of about 20% on Programme 4 was caused by the following :

1.

Qualified staff could not be found to fill certain posts

2.

An amount of R25 000 was also voted to cover the transport costs of the vehicles on Letaba Ranch .

The vehicles are Government Garage vehicles and petrol and oil

was being debited against the Central Government .

The Department of Works was

requested to take the vehicles over , and make them Gazankulu vehicles . problems with this takeover .

There were

My department approached the Department of Finance

and advised it that we were going to have a saving .

Finance advised us that the

funds were not to be used as the Government Garage may claim back from us the running costs of the relative vehicle and the funds must not be used .

80.

Mr. Chairman . )

Mr. van Dyk , according to the Report , the vote for Agriculture

and Forestry has been exceeded by R1 865 334,60 .

The main reasons for the excess are

due mainly to salaries and wages for which inadequate provision was made , higher consumption of fuel and lubricants and increased costs on the repairs of machines and implements .

Could you please give more details?- ( Mr. van Dyk )

I want to point out that the primary aim

Mr. Chairman , firstly

or policy of the Department of Agriculture

is the development of the agricultural potential of Gazankulu to its fullest possible extent .

We do this development by means of the establishment of as many economically

viable projects as possible .

Projects are selected on the basic of the number of people

they can employ , because we believe that job - creation for our rapidly growing population must receive maximum attention .

That is why we only consider

income

and job-creation projects .

36/....

- 36 Now , Mr. Chairman , one of the main reasons for this overspending is due to wage increases which occurred in the year under review .

Your may recall , Mr. Chairman , that the

wages of our labourers , for instance , has gone up by an average of 41,7% during the year , and on top of this more

" labourers were employed at the Homu and Hlaneki

projects due to accelerated development .

We have under- estimated for wages , that

is a fact Mr. Chairman , but it is extremely difficult to estimate correctly when you are confronted with accelerated development and wage increases of this nature . Another very important reason for this overspending , Mr. Chairman , is the increased consumption of diesel fuel and lubricants , and the increased costs of repairs to heavy machinery . years

the

It may interest you to note , Mr. Chairman , that over the last five

price of fuel has gone up by an average of 35,6% each year , while

repair costs has gone up by 20,8% per year .

But on top of this , Mr. Chairman ,

our machines has worked longer hours than before .

This has been achieved by means of

improved organisation and personnel administration on our projects .

It must also be

borne in mind , Mr. Chairman , that additional machines and tractors were purchased for this increased development , and their fuel consumption and service charged had to be taken into account .

It may also interest you to note , Mr. Chairman , that our

big bulldozers has to be serviced every 250 hours of operation , and they work an average of approximately 1640 hours per year .

Each of these services costs our

Government in excess of R1 000 each , as it has to be done by highly trained experts from either Pietersburg or Nelspruit . costs of operation , Mr. Chairman .

The drought also had an effect on our increased

The drilling machine and borehole pumps had to

be operated almost day and night to supply enough water , and this also resulted in increased wear and tear , and increased repair costs .

Now Mr. Chairman , during the

year when we have spent the allocated funds , we could have stopped work in order not to overspend.

But this would have meant the discharge or lay- off of labourers .

In

view of the serious political consequences this would have brought about , we decided to carry on with the work and overspend on our budget .

I hope , Mr Chairman , that

you would regard this decision as a wise one .

81.

Mr. Hlayisi . )

it

is possible to

Mr. van Dyk , are records in your Department : kept in such a way that detect overspending on your Vote timeously ? -

( Mr. van Dyk )

Yes Mr. Chairman , commitment registers are kept by my Chief Accountant and they are consulted before any requisition can ber made .

82 .

Mr. Ngobeni . )

Mr. van Dyk , did your Department take the necessary steps to

bring about savings in an event to stay within the limit of the Appropriation Act ?-

37/....

- 37 -

(Mr. van Dyk

Mr. Chairman , my answer to this question is also yes , we were obviously

concerned with

this problem of overspending , and as I have already explained , we

could not discharge our labourers .

We then decided to limit the miles allocation to

Senior officials to 2 600 per month , and that of Junior officials to 2 000 per month . This brought a saving on subsistence and travelling allowance and secondly projects which could be stopped were discontinued with immediately .

For instance the

Dumphries irrigation project . Gifts by the Government ( Paragraph 10 page 5 )

83.

Mr. Chairman . )

Mr. van Dyk , could you please give more details in respect of

the fertilizer to the value of R60 806 to various farmers ?-

(Mr. van Dyk

Mr.

Chairman , one of the aims of this Department is also to settle Gazankulu farmers on economically viable farming units or plots .

You will agree with me , Mr. Chairman ,

that there is no point in settling them on poor under - nourished soil .

We have therefore

decided to have all such soils analised to see whether there are any deficiencies , and it was found that all our soils lacks micro- elements , lime and phosphates .

We

have therefore endeavoured on a programme in which the soil fertility of these farming units can be built up over a number of years , to an acceptable level .

Due

to the fact that our farmers could not be expected to make any financial contributions to this programme , we have decided to regard the matter as a form of gift or grant to the famers .

Incidentally , Mr Chairman , we do exactly the same on

our newly debushed soils of the Homu , Hlaneki and Bend projects , on which farmers will be settled eventually .

84 .

Mr. Khosa . )

(Mr. van Dyk . )

Mr. van Dyk , is this kind of gift going to be done annually?Yes Mr. Chairman , it is the intention of my Department to continue

with this practice until such time that the nutritional level of the soil has been brought up to acceptable standard , depending of course that funds will be available for this purpose .

85.

Mr. Khosa . )

a service . (Mr. van Dyk

Mr. van Dyk , it appears that this kind of gift has the character of

Is it not better to provide for services of this nature in your budget ?Mr. Chairman , unfortunately I have to come back again to the

question of funds .

To budget for this purpose in the present economic situation of

the country will be well nigh impossible . Let me tell you why .

Mr. Chairman , we were but lucky in this case .

You may be aware of the fact that fertilizers and other items

are bought and delivered well before the start of the planting season .

38/....

- 38 -

This was also done in the present case , but due to the drought very little crops could be planted.

We therefore sat with a fair quantity of fertilizers on our hands which

would have been damaged to some extent if we kept them over for the use in the coming year , as we did not have proper storage facilities .

We therefore decided , Mr.

Chairman , to collect the redundant fertilizers from all over Gazankulu and used them for this worthwile purpose .

Vote 5- Agriculture and Forestry ( Paragraph 21 ( 1 ) page 21 )

86.

Mr. Hlayisi . )

Mr. van Dyk , I notice that except for agronomic crops and

cotton , that projects wēre operated at a total loss . main reasons for this ?-

(Mr van Dyk.)

Could you please furnish the

Mr. Chairman , I would suggest that we

consider each of these crops and discuss the reasons why profits were not realised on them . I will start with

(a )

CITRUS : Mr. Chairman , Citrus is regarded by my Department to be one of the most important income -generating projects . labourers on our citrus projects .

But we also employ approximately 350

As I have pointed out earlier , their wage

increases , which were not budgeted for , made a very large contribution to whether the projects were operated at a loss or not . But Mr. Chairman , we must again put the biggest blame on the persistent drought for the financial losses we suffered during the year under review .

First of all , because the trees

hardly ever received sufficient water , the fruit produced were much smaller than usual .

These smaller fruit could not be exported , or sold locally .

Some

were so small that even the juice - producing factories could not take them , and large quantities of fruit therefore had to be dumped or thrown away .

Another effect

of the drought was , Mr. Chairman , that a micro - irrigation system had to be installed , which uses less water , but more effectively . Mr.

Our records show ,

Chairman , that at the present moment we are showing an average saving of

30% on the amount of water used .

Incidentally, Mr. Chairman , at the present

moment , during the most severe drought in living memory , we are pumping this saved water into the Rigo - rigo dam at Berlyn , something which could not be dreamed of a couple of years ago .

At the same time , our yield has gone up by

much as 300%, in some cases , due to more efficient irrigation .

I want to

indicate Mr. Chairman , that the installation of this micro - irrigation was done during this year under review , but it came into operation in the subsequent financial year .

39/....

-· 39 -

Another factor , Mr. Chairman , which contributed to the loss suffered on our citrus projects , must be laid before the door of our accelerated planting of replacement orchards . You may be aware of the fact , Mr. Chairman , that in such projects a certain number of trees has to be planted every year to replace those that has died from cold

age

As this has not been done properly in the past , we had to plant

and diseases .

more than we actually should have .

These young trees were not in production yet ,

as they only start to produce after four years .

87.

Mr. Hlayisi . )

To follow - up Mr. Chairman , this micro - irrigation system does it

not reduce labour?-

(Mr. van Dyk•)

Mr. Chairman , I want to stress that the cost of

installation of this micro irrigation was incurred during the financial year under review and it came into operation the following financial year . (b )

SISAL : -

Mr. Chairman , as far as sisal is concerned , it is being considered by my Department to be a job-creating project only .

The cost of production is much higher than the

profits that can be realised from it , but we continue with these projects because we are aware of the important fact that more than 1 000 labourers are permanently employed here .

But , Mr. Chairman , you may well be interested in some other factors

which also was the cause of an abnormally low production in the year under review . The drought caused serious crop losses , and on most of our 9 sisal projects we are at the present moment cutting the middle leaves which are shorter , and therefore of lesser yield .

On the other hand , Mr. Chairman , we have in the year under review

planted about 400 hectares of sisal , which is much and these have not yet come into production . (c)

higher than in previous years ,

Mr. Chairman the next one is the

SUBTROPICAL FRUIT : -

Mr. Chairman , as far as subtropical fruit is concerned , the losses incurred is mainly due to the development of the Homu banana project , on which about 30 hectares of banana were planted and which did not come into production in the financial year under review . matter from an

You will agree with me , Mr. Chairman when I say that we may regard the investment point of view , as large expenses were incurred in

preparing the soil and the actual planting aspect .

These aspects includes ( a ) the

application of fertilizers , the normal wages and salaries , irrigation had to be installed , and so on . of the year .

equipment that

These factors resulted in income losses at the end

Next on the line Mr. Chairman is ( d ) PAPRIKA

In the case of paprika ,

Mr. Chairman , the expenses were incurred in the planting of the crop .

As it was only

harvested in the following year , it showed a nett loss in the year under review . The next one Mr. Chairman is ( e )

COFFEE AND NUTS

40/....

- 40 -

Mr. Chairman , as far as coffee and nuts are concerned , you may well be aware of the fact that these are long - term crops , which only come into production a number of years after planting .

Now , Mr. Chairman , the fact of the matter is that large

expenses were incurred in planting and cultivation of the young trees , while no income were or will be , obtained in the first four years after planting . one I want to discuss is (f )

VEGETABLES

The last

Mr. Chairman , the losses incurred on our

vegetable projects must also be ascribed to the severe drought which we experinced in the financial year under review .

Adequate water was never available on all our

projects , the net result being a very low yield while production costs were the same as in any normal year .

88.

Mr. Ngobeni . )

Mr. van Dyk , could you also give more details regarding the

marketing of agricultural crops?-

(Mr. van Dyka

Mr. Chairman , the situation at

present is that in most cases farmers including the Department , STOK and private famers must make their own marketing arrangements .

In a few cases cooperatives

assist their members with the marketing of their products e.g. the Kanana and Ngonini cooperatives assist their members with the marketing of their tomatoes .

It

is however the intention of my Department Mr. Chairman , to promulgate a marketing act for Gazankulu .

this act will provide for the introduction of a Marketing Board

which will operate under the supervision of my Department . The

function of this

marketing Board will be to arrange for proper marketing facilities for our Gazankulu farmers on a continuous basis for all their crops as well as for livestock and livestock products .

In the meantime Mr. Chairman it is also being

arranged to form a committee to investigate all aspects relating to livestock in Gazankulu including the marketing thereof .

I trust that this committee will come

forward with proposals that will enable our farmers to sell their livestock

C

more profitably.

89.

Mr. Chairman . )

Dr. Robert , with reference to the excess of R253 200,90 on your

Vote , could you please give more details ?-

(Dr. Robert . )

is due mainly to the outbreak of Polio in Gazankulu financial year .

Mr. Chairman , the excess

during the course of the

As no provision was made for such unforseen circumstances , the

Department had to purchase more vaccines to innoculate children against this disease throughout Gazankulu .

It is also worth mentioning that the Department had to

purchase orthopaedic equipments in order to assist those children who have been affected by this disease .

41/....

- 41 -

The Nursing personnel attached to Head Office had to visit the different Health Wards from time to

time to assist the personnel in the wards in orientating the

communities to follow and adhere to immunisation programmes .

Since the visits to the

different Health Wards were absolutely necessary coupled with the increase in tariffs for motor vehicles , the funds allocated for motor transport were adversely affected .

Salaries for the Nursing personnel for which no adequate provision was

made were also adjusted during the course of financial year . excess in the funds allocated for salaries .

This resulted in an

The Department tries by all means to stay

within the limit of the Vote , but as costs in transport , medicines , provisions , etc. , increased as well as the patients who came to the hospitals for treatment , essential services could not be suspended due to lack of funds .

Outstanding Revenue ( Paragraph 11 ( 2 ) ( a ) Page 5 )

90 .

Mr. Chairman . )

R67 469?-

Dr. Robert , what is the nature of the outstanding amount of

(Dr. Robert . )

Mr. Chairman , inspections conducted by the Department of

Finance revealed that an amount of R62 077 being in respect of WCA , in- and outpatients was still outstanding as a 31 March 1982 in the six hospitals . amounts were still outstanding prior to take -over of the hospitals .

Some of the

Several copies

of inspection reports endorsed to this Department laid down possible suggestions concerning the recovery of the outstanding revenue but could not be recovered due to : (a)

That some employers do not register their employees with the Work-men's

Compensation Commissioner which then makes it impossible for the latter to pay for the hospital fees and , (b )

That most of the claims submitted to the Workmen's Compensation Commissioner

were rejected without giving any reasons for refusing payment .

This matter

was laid before the Session Committee during its sitting in 1983 where it was suggested that the amount of R62 077 be written off as irrecoverable debts .

The

matter was referred to the Department of Finance which then submitted an application to the Treasury for the writing - off the amount except R62,50 for Malamulele Hospital , which should be recovered .

Treasury has per Ref. F9/6 /1 dated 1984 February 13 ,

granted approval for the write - off of an amount of R62 015,17 .

Mr. Chairman , I wish

report to the Committee that an amount of R62,50 has been recovered . difference of R5 391,00 was still outstanding as at 31 March 1983.

to

The

This amount

comprised mostly W.C.A. accounts and suggestions laid down by the Department of Finance facilitated the recovery of the revenue during the course of the financial year . which is to say that the amount of R5 391,00 was recovered during the financial year .

42/....

- 42 -

91 .

Mr. Mushwana . )

Dr. Robert may you elaborate more on this issue of Workmen's

Compesation , because it appears that the W.C.A. may decide not to pay certain amounts which they were supposed to pay?-

( Dr. Robert )

Mr. Chairman , I will try to give you

an answer , because reasons vary from case to case .

What I have been able to assess

is this , Government officers when injured on duty , they are usually treated in our hospitals .

In the past such were compasated for by the W.C.A.

As time went on , it

was decided that such cases should be the responsibility of the Gazankulu Government .

Our hospitals were not advised of this change .

They were still claiming

as it was done in the past from the W.C.A , that is the time when most of the claims were rejected without any comments . It was then that we discovered that Gazankulu Govenment was responsible for the compensation of its own employees .

As these

employees are falling under one government , it was unnecessary for the Department of Health and Welfare to claim from the other Departments .

Which is to say that those

employees were treated free of charge .

92.

Mr. Mushwana . )

Any comment Mr. Erasmus ?-

( Mr. Erasmus )

Mr.Chairman , I think

we may accept Dr. Robert's explanation , that the Gazankulu Government is responsible for the treatment of its employees .

93.

Mr. Mushwana . )

(Chairman )

Mr. Chairman , do we accept Dr. Robert's explanation ?-

Yes I think we may accept it .

(Dr. Robert )

add something regarding uninsured employees . to deal with that .

Mr. Chairman , may I

Our hospitals have some instructions

In the past it usually happened that some employees were

injured on duty , and yet the employer has not insured his employee .

When the

injured employee arrives at the hospital , if asked whether he is insured or not , he usually indicate that he is insured .

As a result their claims are usually turned

down by the W.C.A. and thus resulting in us having some debts . that there should be a law binding all employers to insure their

I am of the opinion employees , or

otherwise the employer should be bound to pay the cost .

94 .

Mr. Mushwana . )

Dr. Robert , people covered by the W.C.A. scheme do they possess

any card to indicate that they are members?-

95.

Mr. Mushwana . )

(Dr. Robert . )

No Mr. Chairman .

Does it mean we have just to take their words?-

(Dr. Robert )

Mr. Chairman , I feel we may overcome this problem by setting rules that the employer must complete forms to indicate whether the employee is covered or not on admission of the injured person .

- 43 -

APPENDICES

RESOLUTION OF THE SESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNT FOR 1983

AND

TREASURY REPLY THEREON

RESOLUTION NO . 1

Your Committee having heard and considered evidence , is of the opinion that the Estimates of Expenditure under the system of budgeting by objectives in respect of the presentation according to standard items , in future be presented to the Legislative Assembly as information only and agrees with the suggestions as it appears in the memorandum .

Your Committee recommends accordingly .

(Question 1 )

Reply:

The recommendation has been accepted by the Legislative Assembly during the 1983 session as the Report of the Sessional Committee for 1983 has been adopted by the House without ammendment .

SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY GAZANKULU GOVERNMENT

44 -

RESOLUTION OF THE SESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNT FOR 1983 AND

TREASURY REPLY THEREON

RESOLUTION NO . 2

Your Committee begs to report that items of expenditure amounting to R3 417 286,90 specified in paragraph 4 , page 2 of the Report of the Auditor-General on the Appropriation Accounts for 1981-82 ( G.R. 1983 ) are unauthorised and require to be voted .

Your Committee , having made inquiry into circumstances , recommends the above sum for specific appropriation by the Legislative Assembly , apportioned as follows : -

On Revenue Services

Vote 2 - Interior

300 835,10

Vote 3 - Works

1 072 675,19

Vote 4 - Education Vote 5

155 878,95 625 119,74

Agriculture and Forestry

Vote 7 - Health and Welfare

1 262 777,92 R3

417 286,90

(QUESTIONS 2-8 )

REPLY :

The recommended appropriation of R3 417 286,90 was disposed of by the passing of the Gazankulu Unauthorised Expenditure ( 1981-82 ) Act , 1983 (Act no . 3 of 1983 ) during the 1983 session of the Legislative Assembly .

SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY GAZANKULU GOVERNMENT

H -532

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