A staggering R1bn — that's how much the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government spent on hotels, flights and other subsistence and travel for officials and politicians in the past financial year.
This was revealed by the province's new finance MEC Francois Rodgers in an interview with the Sunday Times this week. Rodgers is the DA’s KwaZulu-Natal leader.
Rodgers said the revelations prompted him to introduce tighter travel regulations to cut spending. He said he had identified a culture of excessive spending amid “unacceptably high poverty”. He said spending could be slashed without affecting the work of the government.
“I have told the executive that we will table a Treasury note dealing with austerity measures. Something I picked up is that in the latest financial year the province spent R1bn on subsistence and travel (S&T). We want to propose that we cut S&T by 25% — that will save us R250m in one year and we can do it,” he said.
When we present the budget, those glossy booklets with the MEC's face and the banners cost R30,000. I said ‘no, print in-house on plain white paper’. It cost us R300 instead.
— KZN finance MEC Francois Rodgers
“For example, when MECs fly internally it should be economy class but when they fly internationally it should be business class. But in assessing the finances I have found that the previous premier flew to the US with her aide in first class. That's why I am saying it has become a culture that we need to stop,” said Rodgers.
The excessive spending on travel was identified by the previous MEC of finance, Peggy Nkonyeni, in her budget speech last year.
Rogers took over finance in the province three months ago. He told the Sunday Times of a “shocking entrenched mindset” in the provincial government “that there is always money”, leading to one of his many tasks as finance MEC being to dismantle historical expenditure patterns if the province is to stay afloat.
Rogers has already made decisions affecting himself that he hopes his colleagues will emulate. These savings included staying in guest houses instead of luxury hotel suites; closing a duplicate office; not using fancy stationery for events; and cutting down on cars.
“The first day in office I was told I had a second office, in Durban. We were leasing the office and it was coming up for renewal in July. There were no staff implications in closing it so we did. It's full of furniture that we are going to auction off and we will save more than R1m a year in rent.
“I was offered new calendars because the current ones show the previous MEC’s face — but it's midyear so I said ‘absolutely no’.
“When we present the budget, those glossy booklets with the MEC’s face and the banners cost R30,000. I said ‘no, print in-house on plain white paper’. It cost us R300 instead.
“Somebody has to set an example and I prefer to be that person, but it doesn't make me popular.”
Rodgers said when he had to stay over in Durban for business he was told the norm was to take a suite at the Beverly Hills or Oyster Box. “I said I’d stay in a guest house in Umhlanga — it's R1,200 a night and is safe.”
Rodgers said when he found out his department had eight vehicles he cut the fleet to four.
The MEC said there had been a positive reaction from the executive to these decisions as some fellow MECs had already expressed reservations about irresponsible spending. He hoped his actions would contribute to a mind shift among his peers.
“The reality is that if we don't change we are going to be in trouble by the end of this year and will need to borrow a substantial amount of money — and the fiscal framework doesn't allow that. The minute you do that, the National Treasury takes over.”
Fiscal discipline is even more urgent when the economy is struggling, unemployment is increasing, budget cuts run into billions with more expected in the next two years, and unfunded mandates continue with no provision for cover by the Treasury.
“The Treasury still has to deal with unfunded mandates such as wage increment agreements and legacies such as the Jacob Zuma initiative to fund iziNduna with salaries, tools of their trade and premises — a mandate now costing more than R350m, with no help from the Treasury,” he said.
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