Unimpressed MPs block P1.1bn Ntlole budget request
Mbongeni Mguni | Friday December 20, 2019 13:48
The opposition, led by Leader of the Opposition, Dumelang Saleshando questioned the legality of Matsheka’s proposal to reallocate the required funds from “slow spending” projects in the Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services.
The funds are required to cater for the increases made in April to civil service and disciplined forces’ salaries as well as old age pensions and village development committee allowances.
The disciplined forces’ salary increases, popularly known as Ntlole, require the lion’s share of the supplementary budget at P757.4 million.
This morning, Matsheka will resubmit the supplementary budget seeking the same amounts, but proposing alternative sources of the funds.
Parliament adjourns today and according to Matsheka, any failure to approve the budget will have an immediate impact on the different classes of civil servants, disciplined forces and others.
“What we have said as MPs, even at our retreats, is that we will not do cheap politics with people lives,” he told Mmegi yesterday evening.
“There are civil servants out there, the police, BDF people who want to be paid, who have to be paid. “Therefore it is not the time for cheap politicking. There are people’s lives involved in this exercise.” Matsheka said he expected convergence around the vote as he had yielded to the opposition’s concerns even though the law was on the ministry’s side in the matter. In their arguments on Wednesday, opposition legislators had said diverting funds from the development to the recurrent budget was against the law. Debate on the motion was deferred to a general assembly on Thursday morning, where the Attorney General advised that the proposals were legally and constitutionally sound.
“We believe in the need to try and create consensus in Parliament, especially on issues like budgets and the use of public funds,” Matsheka said.
“We do not want anyone to walk away feeling like we are misappropriating funds.
“The net effect of what we were trying to do would have been zero because the money would remain unspent in the development budget due to capacity issues.
“By the end of the financial year, there will still be unspent money in those projects.”
During debates on Wednesday, Saleshando said the proposals were the result of poor public finance management and a grab for votes by the ruling party.
“Expanding the fiscal space and doing away with inefficiencies is something the minister will have to dedicate time to,” he said.
“If we continue along this line of just passing supplementaries, when we cannot do that, the next step will be increasing taxes which is something African governments do.
“The next step after that will be to say ‘print more money because the President has made an announcement’.
“I can’t support this supplementary and you all know that it was on account of buying elections.
“Le tla hitisa le le nosi, ke tlhapa diatla.”
Asked how confident the ministry was that a consensus would be reached with the opposition to pass the supplementary budget, Matsheka said: “It was in the interest of this country that I decided to withdraw the motion and create a consensus.
“The ruling party had an option to go for a vote but we said no, we don’t want to take a budget to a vote because it’s about development. It would be strange if the opposition turn around and reject it when I actually yielded to their point of view.”