Pretoria - The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Social Development has moved swiftly to contain costs by slashing the department’s subsistence and travel claims by R8 million in less than six months.
Addressing hundreds of people in Hluhluwe, on Saturday, Social Development MEC Weziwe Thusi said the department has embarked on cost cutting measures on non-essential services to ensure that more money is spent on delivering services to the people.
“The Cabinet Lekgotla gave us the directive to do all we can to ensure that more money goes to our people. Although travelling is part of delivering services, we have managed to do things differently which has seen us trimming travelling costs without affecting service delivery.
“This includes the use of telephone conferences instead of travelling long distances to hold meetings. I commend my staff for ensuring that these cost cutting measures become successful,” said MEC Thusi.
She added that the R8 million saved in the past five months will go a long way in improving people’s lives and the department strongly believes that it will be able to make more savings in the near future.
MEC Thusi said the department will soon let the public know how much it saved on cutting down on VIP services.
Before addressing the community, the MEC officially opened a multi-million Inkanyiso Early Childhood Centre in Danny Dalton, outside Ulundi.
The R5 million centre, which was built by the department, accommodates 50 children. It continues to receive financial assistance for operations from the department. – SAnews.gov.za
