KwaZulu-Natal Finance MEC Ravi Pillay says his department will strive to ensure that every rand counts and every rand in the public purse is accounted for.
Pillay was speaking in the provincial legislature in Pietermaritzburg, where he was tabling the Provincial Treasury’s R722 million budget for 2019/20.
In the current financial year, Pillay said, more focus will be placed on how the province’s limited financial resources are managed given the sluggish growth of the economy and budget cuts.
“We can only make every rand count if we cut wastage, root out corruption and improve governance in all our departments, municipalities and public entities. This therefore means we have to ensure that we get value for money in terms of goods and services we procure,” said Pillay.
The economic difficulties the country faces means that “the budgets we have are not enough to accomplish, all at once, the many things we need to do”.
“Thus, this enjoins us as the Provincial Treasury to be even more vigilant in exercising our role as the guardian of the public purse. It also means we have to be imaginative and creative in the manner in which we spend our limited resources,” the MEC said.
Regulations Preferential Procurement
Pillay also announced that the department is in the process of establishing a specialised unit which will ensure the implementation of the Regulations Preferential Procurement of 2017.
The unit will vet specifications of bids over R5 million for all departments to ensure general legal compliance and advancement of radical economic transformation in the province.
He said recruitment is currently underway and the department will continue to provide Supply Chain Management related support to departments, municipalities and public entities that are found to be in distress. – SAnews.gov.za
