Mpuma depts to be stricter on revenue collection

Friday, March 25, 2011

Mbombela - Mpumalanga government departments will use a new system as of April to collect monies owed to them.

The provincial revenue tariff register and the Revenue In-Year Monitoring (IYM) system were unveiled during finance MEC Pinky Phosa's R29 billion appropriation budget speech in Mbombela on Thursday afternoon.

"We have developed a revenue tariff register to assist in the process of revisions of all revenue items and to verify the sustainability and performance of each department on a regular basis," said Phosa.

"The IYM system has also been developed to provide early warning on possible under-or-over-collection from unsustainable sources like recoveries from previous financial years," she said.

Phosa said the revenue target for various sectors had been revised for the 2011 to 2014 financial years.

She said the roads sector had been increased by R57.4 million in 2011/12, by R61.1 million in 2012/13 and by R66.7 million in 2013/14. 

"This is done in order to cushion the shortfall in the target for interest revenue," she said. 

Phosa said the revision of the cooperative governance and traditional affairs revenue would fluctuate between R199 000 in 2011/12, R212 000 in 2012/13 and R210 000 in 2013/14 in order to assist the province to fund provincial priorities.

She said the revenue targets for the social development department was increased by R969 000 in 2011/12 and R1.8 million in 2012/13 while that of the human settlements department have been revised upwards by R1.5 million in 2011/12 and R2.3 million in 2012/13.

She commended four departments, including public works, roads and transport; cooperative governance and traditional affairs; social development and human settlements, saying they had demonstrated commitment to generate additional revenue for the funding of provincial priorities.

"We want to emphasise that the much needed funds that are provided must be used to support the national and provincial key priorities which have been identified," Phosa said.

Phosa said the provincial government had a R29 billion 2011/12 budget made available from the provincial fiscal framework.

She said the money was made up of more than R23 billion in equitable share, no less than R5 billion in conditional grants and R628 million in own revenue.

The MEC said only R16 million of the R50 million from the national department of rural development and land reform would be allocated because the amount was transferred to the province during the 2010/11 financial year.

The money was meant to boost the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme, which will be rolled out to six municipalities in the province this financial year.

"From the R 29 billion budget, an amount of R22 million represents incentives for departments that will exceed targets on job creation in line with the Expanded Public Works Programme," she said.