The Chairperson of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) Songezo Zibi has implored on government to institute measures towards addressing wastage and mishandling of funds.
This emerged during the pre-Budget briefing convened by the Finance Cluster in Parliament, Cape Town, on Monday.
“We cannot discuss the budget while totally ignoring the fact that the government misuses money through bad policy and wastes it through maladministration and loses it entirely through corruption.
We are borrowing too much while spending inefficiently or allowing money to be stolen.
Government’s debt was R1.79-trillion in 2014/15, and in the last financial year, 2023/24, it was R5.26-trillion.
Measured in inflation-adjusted terms, the burden of public debt per working-age individual climbed from R70 074 in 2014/15 to R114 974 in 2023/24, while real interest costs per individual jumped from R4 472 to R7 785 over the same period,” said Zibi.
Zibi further advised government to use a diplomatic approach when engaging US counterparts, to address the matter of the withdrawal of the USAID fund for HIV/AIDS and TB programmes.
“The loss of PEPFAR means money for critical programs must be found somewhere else to close the gap.
We cannot leave South Africans to fend for themselves.
No matter what your personal feelings are, the withdrawal of funds is not fodder for ideological argument, it is about people’s lives,” explained Zibi.
In addition, Zibi called on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to “find a solution that parliament can support and that will not be at the expense of ordinary citizens.”
All eyes are now fixed on what can be described as the most anticipated budget in the country’s history, when Godongwana tables the budget on Wednesday in parliament.
