Chris Hani District Municipality
(CHDM) has added over R14 million to its hundreds of millions in irregular
expenditure in the 2021/2022 financial year.
This was revealed during a virtual
special council meeting on Wednesday, August 17.
Executive mayor Wongama Gela said the
municipality had been in talks with the office of the auditor general as the
district authority did not deem two amounts as irregular expenditure.
However,
following the talks, the amounts had to be added to the R475 225 429.
“There were amounts of R9 575 098,88 and R4 928 675 which were not
disclosed. These amounts total to R14, 503 773 of irregular expenditure.
We request council to refer the matter to a council committee for investigation
and that a report be then tabled to council,” Gela said.
Irregular expenditure already
reported to council include R20 million for the first quarter, R12 million for
the second quarter and R6 million for the third quarter with the fourth quarter
being R4 million.
Council also heard an application
for rollover of R32 million from the 2021/ 2022 to the 2022/2023 financial
year.
Gela said the unspent grants were mainly from the rural bulk
infrastructure grant (RBIG), water services infrastructure grant (WSIG) and
municipal disaster response grant (MDRG).
Said Gela: “Council on 25 May 2022
approved a capital budget of R615,735,450 for the 2022/2023 financial year
as per directorate classification. The Municipality was unable to spend an
amount of R32 173 290.86 of the capital budget in 2021/22. The adjustments are
based on the RBIG capital projects amounting to R13 290 176; WSIG R17 066 341
and MDRG of R1 816 774. The approved budget of 2022/23 of R615 735 450 is to be
increased to R647 908 740.86.”
He said the rollover had capital
commitments and awards had been made to bidders for the implementation of the
capital projects.
“The Municipality reported an actual spending of R663 324 448
of the final 2021/2022 capital adjustments budget of R689 393 011, which is
96.0%. The Service Delivery Budget Implementation Plan target was 95%. Actual
spending before the roll-over capital budget amounts to 96%.”
The total capital
budget thus moved from R615 735 450 to R647,908,740.86 after council
approval.
