Over the past decade, the Free State has had to return more than R1,3 billion to national government due to the provincial government’s underspending.
The Free State government could have built at least 6 600 houses, 65 new public schools or 13 new state hospitals with the money.
The MEC for Finance in the province, Ms Gadija Brown, revealed the underspending of conditional allocations, received from national level, in reply to a question by the FF Plus in the Free State Legislature.
The National Treasury has the power to take back any funds that departments fail to spend annually.
So, the Free State essentially lost more than R1,3 billion which could have been used for infrastructure and service delivery, but which has been allocated to other provinces as a result of underspending.
Over the course of just the last four years, under the premierships of Sisi Ntombela and Mxolisi Dukwana, the Free State lost more than R737 million.
The departments that had to return the largest sums are: the Department of Health (more than R533 million), Education (more than R187 million), Human Settlements (more than R105 million) and Police, Roads and Transport (more than R89 million).
The ANC frequently complains that the Free State receives too little from the national fiscus to address the problems in the province.
These figures, however, make it very clear that over the last ten years the ANC has been unable to manage the province’s budget effectively and apply its funds to benefit the province.
Inept officials and poor project management, mainly caused by the ANC’s policy of Affirmative Action and Black Economic Empowerment, are largely to blame.
All while service delivery and infrastructure keep declining.
The only way to save the Free State is to register to be able to vote to get rid of the ANC and replace it with a competent and accountable coalition government with the FF Plus as governing partner.
Together, we can restore and rebuild the Free State.
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