Governance & Politics - 18 March 2024

18 Mar 2024

GOVERNANCE & POLITICS

• Senior civil servants with unspecified qualifications. At the end of 2023 the qualifications of 1 779 senior management service staff in the government were not specified on the central system used for the administration of the public service payroll, Public Service & Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet has disclosed. Out of the total, 1 427 individuals held senior managerial positions, with 989 of them being hired before 1 August 2016, which is before the implementation of minimum requirements, and 448 being hired after that date. Meanwhile, Deputy President Paul Mashatile told the Council of Provinces that numerous professionals in the public sector were trained by the ANC, sent to top schools in Europe and the US, and deployed to the benefit of the country. (Source)

• Material irregularities highlighted. The Auditor General says amendments to the Public Audit Act have proved effective and define more clearly a material irregularity. A loss of R14.34 billion was accumulated by a sample of national and provincial departments between the 2018/19 and 2022/23 financial years due to material irregularities identified by the AG. These include non-compliance with legislation, fraud, theft, and a breach of a fiduciary duty identified during an audit that resulted in a material financial loss. (Source)

• Social grants increase. The Covid-19 social relief of distress grant will be raised by R20, or 5.7%, to R370 from 1 April, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana announced. The following increases to be implemented during 2024 are: to the old age, war veterans, disability and care dependency R100. This amount will be divided into R90 effective from April and R10 effective from October. The foster care grant will increase by R50 and the child support grant by R20. According to the Budget 2024 estimates 27 782 000 people will receive social grants in 2023/24, including 9 023 000 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant beneficiaries. (Source)

• Opposition parties to oppose funding cuts. Opposition parties warned in the National Assembly on Tuesday they would challenge in court a bill that favours the ANC in terms of political party funding. The Electoral Matters Amendment Bill was adopted by the ANC and supported by the EFF and the National Freedom Party while the other opposition parties rejected it. The existing formula in the Political Party Funding Act allocates funds based on two-thirds proportional and one-third equitable. However, the adopted bill changes this to 90% proportional and 10% equitable, which will see the allocation to smaller parties cut by over 50% in most cases. Opposition parties estimate that the majority party could benefit by as much as R50 million more from state coffers in this financial year, owing to a change in the funding formula for political parties. (Source)