The management of the public purse has improved in Bokone Bophirima province. This was said by Premier Supra Mahumapelo in his State of the Nation Address (SOPA) delivered in Marikana outside Rustenburg on this morning (Friday 23 February 2018).

Mahumapelo said the provincial government has seen an improvement in minimizing accruals in the past three to four years.

“When the fifth administration took over office back in 2014/15 financial year, accruals amounted to R1billion. We successfully reduced this to R750m in the last financial year and we have taken a decision to further reduce this to R600m when we close our books at the end of 2017/18 financial year in March 2018.

“The fifth administration took a good step as early as 2015 and ensured that the 2009/10 to 2013/14 financial year unauthorised expenditure amount of R829million is cleared from the books through the North West Provincial Legislature process. The Legislative process is at an advanced stage to clear the amount of R285m incurred in the 2014/15 financial year,” he said.

Bokone Bophirima’s provincial government is working hard to ensure that public funds are spent wisely and Mahumapelo said there has been a drastic reduction in the amount of government funds that have been spent without being accounted for.
The Premier told thousands that had gathered at Marikana Community Hall that fruitless and wasteful expenditure stood at R10.78 billion in 2014, but that it now stands at around R2 billion. He said he is grateful to announce that the Provincial Advisory Committee (PACO) for irregular and fruitless expenditure has engaged all provincial government departments with regard to irregular expenditure.

“To date, an estimated amount of R2billion has been submitted to National Treasury for consideration and condonement. These efforts would be sustained in the 2018/19 financial year. In a collaborative approach, the province has engaged the Auditor General (AG) to reduce all incidents of disagreement during the audit process.

“The provincial departments’ average adherence to payment of suppliers within the regulated 30 days stood at 80%. In the last three months of the 2017/18 financial year, provincial departments recorded 90% with five departments achieving over 95% performance by paying suppliers within 21 days,” Mahumapelo said.

He said in 2014, the majority of departments had acting Heads of Departments (HoDs) with most departments hugely unequal in gender representation. HOD positions were then filled 100% until a resignation in the last two months.

“We are also proud to report that 50% of Heads of Departments are women. We are also pleased to report that as promised in the last SOPA, we managed to publish qualifications of all senior managers across departments. The fifth administration’s Agriculture, Culture and Tourism (ACT) pillar has also borne fruit for the province.

“We have seen a steady and sustained increase in the number of people coming into our province. For example, our international arrivals have since 2014 grown steadily by no less than 50 000 tourists coming into the province. Bed/nights have increased by over 1million and it is estimated that the industry has created some additional 20 000 jobs,” he said.

All these are linked to the various initiatives of repositioning Bokone Bophirima as a business, leisure, recreational and tourism destination of choice, the Premier said. He added that the beginning of the 2018/19 financial year marks the penultimate year for the term of office of the fifth administration.

“As we enter this important phase of our service delivery tenure, it is important that we take a moment to make an appraisal of the journey we have travelled in the implementation of the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) as adopted by government for the period 2014-2019. We would like to anchor the reflection on the work of the fifth administration to date in the context of the inspirational observation made by President Nelson Mandela,” he said.

Mahumapelo quoted the late Dr Nelson Mandela when he said: “I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

He further said there are many matters that still need to be navigated in the context of the Rebranding, Repositioning and Renewal (RRR) of Bokone Bophirima by implementing the National Development Plan (NDP) through the five concretes adopted by the province.
Source: http://www.semphetenews.co.za