Public works & infrastructure minister Sihle Zikalala says the National Treasury’s proposal do away with his department would mean more work for his counterparts.
The Treasury has suggested radical measures to rein in runaway spending and wastage, raising a red flag over South Africa’s public finances. These include a freeze on appointments, tenders, travel and catering.
The proposal to do away with Zikalala’s department and stop the expanded public works programme (EPWP) was made at a meeting the Treasury held with the Presidency and some ministers in Stellenbosch recently. It was among suggested ways of finding money to continue funding the R350 social relief of distress grant beyond March next year. The Treasury indicated that other departments would prefer to manage their own assets and buildings.
Zikalala told the Sunday Times the government would have to assess whether departments would be able to do this.
“I think the government will have to look in detail at whether departments will really be able to manage infrastructure for themselves. Most of the departments have primary mandates and it’s not just about managing the building you are in. The police, for example, need to work on protecting citizens, dealing with crime and ensuring that criminals are successfully prosecuted.
Let’s look at what works and what does not work. EPWP has provided opportunities to many people
— Sihle Zikalala
“If you say they must now look after their own properties, you will be adding a responsibility. So there must be a discussion on that. I am not saying we must not, but one thing that public works should own up to is that it has not optimised on its capacity.
“Public works must optimise on the infrastructure that we have. That’s why we are saying let’s run the programmes that are going to help the government going forward, even to generate income. We can take these government buildings, give them to the private sector to either use them or pay back the government.”
Zikalala said he was not against scaling down programmes, including the EPWP, to fund the R350 grant, but warned of job losses.
“Let’s look at what works and what does not work. EPWP has provided opportunities to many people.
“In our EPWP there are co-operatives that are emerging and are now working on their own. You will also find that people start as cleaners and as they clean they get into recycling and then they exit in a way that helps them to enter entrepreneurship.
“Therefore, it is important that we structure the EPWP in a way that is massive and makes impact. I think there must be a focus on economic growth and protecting those projects and programmes that are creating job opportunities.”
The Treasury's austerity guidelines detail how national and provincial departments and schedule 3 entities would have to operate in the next six months to save money.
“The implementation of these measures should result in a reduction in spending over the six months,” the document states.
Some of the money saved would be rolled over to the next financial year in some entities while every cent saved by departments would be “surrendered” to national or provincial treasuries.
The Sunday Times understands that the Treasury has outlined areas for most of the savings.
They include the filling of new posts, with all departments and some state entities requiring approval directly from the minister of public service & administration, Noxolo Kiviet.
Staff are also discouraged from travelling to committee meetings in parliament if an option of attending virtually is available.
The issuing of new tenders for buildings and other fixed structures such as bridges has been discouraged, along with the purchasing of new equipment such as computers, vehicles and construction equipment.
Catering for departmental meetings has been halted, along with the hiring of new venues.
“The current fiscal challenges originate mainly from an exceptionally large year-to-date decline in government tax revenue collections [estimated at R22bn for the first five months of the year] and tighter financial conditions that have constrained government’s borrowing programme,” says the memo from the Treasury.
“These constraints are exacerbated by the wage agreement for the public service, signed in March 2023, which was not accommodated in the Budget Review 2023 and for which claw-back mechanisms have not yielded results that would mitigate potential negative impacts.”
Kiviet would have to be consulted on all new hirings in a move the Treasury says is meant to “assist” and not “impede the functions of an executive authority” in stabilising the ballooning public sector wage bill.
Although Kiviet would have to be consulted, the responsible ministers, premiers, MECs, CEOs and boards would still be responsible for recruitment and decisions on how to compensate staff.
MPs are partially exempted from the cost-cutting measures, but officials have been discouraged from travelling to parliament, especially for committee meetings.
“Delegations to attend physical parliamentary meetings should be kept to the minimum and, if meetings are hybrid, officials should attend virtually unless the relevant committee requires otherwise,” the document says.
Before any trip is approved, alternatives such as attending meetings virtually or delaying the need for travel should be considered. Departments should send travel plans to the Treasury or relevant executive authority on a monthly basis.
Departments and schedule 3 entities should “avoid” having meetings outside government premises and “where a meeting, conference or workshop is arranged by a department or government component, no catering should be provided, unless approved by [the] accounting officer.”
The implementation of capital projects should be postponed until March 31 next year.
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