The Standing Committee on Appropriations was briefed on Tuesday, 15 February 2022 by National Treasury on the 2021/22 third quarter expenditure reports for national departments and other identified state-owned companies and agencies.
 
The Committee was briefed on 2021/22 third-quarter spending outcomes where some of the National Departments had either higher or lower spending on their budgets due to various factors as highlighted by Treasury to the Committee. Among the highest spending department was the Department of Social Development. Social Development spent R171 Billion by the end of the third quarter mainly due to spending on the special Covid-19 social relief of distress grant. The department of Transport also had a lower spending of R1.0 billion which was 11% lower than projected due to mainly the non-payment of the Public Transport Network Grant to several municipalities as they had not yet complied with their milestones as per their conditional grant framework.
 
The Committee was also given an update on State Owned Entities such as the Land bank, Eskom, South African Post Office, DENEL, PRASA and South African Airways to name just a few regarding operational, structural and other challenges.
 
The Committee voiced its displeasure about the failure to resolve issues at the Land Bank. The Committee said the socio - economic costs are huge to the farmers, both emerging and commercial. Parliament appropriated R7 billion to capitalize the bank. Committee calls upon the Minister of Finance and National Treasury to be involved in the negotiations with the creditors and get a speedy resolution to the impasse.  
 
The Committee noted with concern that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) seems to perennially underspend on its capital expenditure; this is despite the sorry state of infrastructure of PRASA. The Committee would like to know what measures are being taken to stop the recurrence of this. The Committee calls on the Board and Minister of Transport to resolve this problem
 
The committee noted the challenges facing the South African Post Office and stressed the importance of the Post office especially among the poorest of the poor and rural communities and that it was important to ensure that it remains fully functional. The Committee observed that there are people who have applied and but have not received their Social Relief Grants through the post office, and some have applied and were declined, appealed but there was no assistance after. Some of the notable challenges with SAPO were that the entity has struggled in defining itself as a commercial enterprise and that changes in ICT environment have also contributed towards its many challenges in positioning itself as a viable entity.
 
On Eskom, the Committee was briefed about the Operational, Financial and structural challenges that continue to plague Eskom and that according to Treasury, Eskom remains the biggest risk to the fiscus as well as governments economic recovery plans. The chairperson Mr Sfiso Buthelezi said “People who are bailing out Eskom are the tax payers and they are the ones who bear the brunt of higher tariffs again”.

Issued by The Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, Sfiso Buthelezi