DA wants government's big-spending bad apples named and shamed

While government spending on consultants‚ travel and catering has been reined in by R2-billion‚ the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Thursday that National Treasury has “barely made a dent”.

The party’s finance spokesperson David Maynier said that since former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan introduced “belt-tightening measures” during his Medium Term Budget in 2013‚ “National Treasury has not provided a progress report on the implementation of the cost containment”.

Maynier said the current minister Nhlanhla Nene‚ however‚ revealed in a reply to a parliamentary question that the “total amount spent by departments on consultants‚ travel and catering was reduced from R25-billion in 2013/14 to R23-billion in 2014/15”.

“However‚ this only represents an 8% saving on the total amount spent‚” he said.

According to Nene’s figures‚ the savings made were as follows:

- R364-million‚ or 3%‚ on consultants in 2014/15 compared to 2013/14;

- R571-million‚ or 6%‚ on travel and subsistence; and

- R1.075-billion‚ or 47%‚ on catering‚ entertainment and venue rental.

Maynier said this “suggests…some departments are resisting the implementation of cost containment measures and are failing to comply with National Treasury Instruction 01 of 2013/2014”.

“I will‚ therefore‚ be writing to the Minister of Finance‚ Nhlanhla Nene‚ requesting him to provide me with a breakdown of the savings of each department on consultants‚ travel and catering in 2014/15 compared to 2013/14‚” he said.

“We need to identify the big-spending ‘bad apples’ which are refusing to tighten their belts and deal with them in Parliament.”