The council listened with confusion as Municipal Manager, Ntombi Baart explained that an application to National Treasury for a roll-over of unspent conditional grants for R28.6 million – not R53.7 million as previously reported – had been submitted and was unsuccessful.
The council listened with confusion as Municipal Manager, Ntombi Baart explained that an application to National Treasury for a roll-over of unspent conditional grants for R28.6 million – not R53.7 million as previously reported – had been submitted and was unsuccessful.
Council Speaker Rachel Madinda, perplexed by the new figure, asked, "How did you [first]come up with the figure '53' and now you come up with something else?" Madinda was referring to the R53.7m repeatedly indicated in council meetings as the conditional grants amount still unspent by the end of the 2010/11 financial year. If that near-halving of the roll-over request was confusing, trying to get to the bottom of the discrepancy was even more so.
Baart said at last Thursday's meeting that R53.7m was the amount it had been calculated it would now take to complete the same projects budgeted for around years ago, taking into account inflation. She said the mistake had been realised, that the adjusted request had been put before Council and adopted.
A report tabled to council at last week's council meeting states that an application for R28.6 million was submitted to National Treasury on August 26, 2011, for "final approval". This explanation appears to be slightly at odds with Grocott's Mail's experience.
In July, after Makana's application for a rollover of conditional grant funds was rejected, an official at National Treasury told Grocott's Mail they'd sent a letter to the municipality informing them that of the R53.7m they'd asked for, only R27.1m had been approved for a roll-over. In other words, R26.6m short. And 1.5m less than the amount for which Baart said they were seeking final approval.
The roll-overs asked for are with respect to the municipal infrastructure grant, the integrated national electrification programme grant, the neighbourhood development and partnership grant and the municipal systems improvement grant. Last Thursday's Council report stated that the reasons for the rejection were: * The municipality did not submit the annual financial statements for the period ending 30 June 2011 to verify the unspent conditional grants for the period under review;
* The amount requested for the rollover did not reconcile with Section 71 unspent conditional grants. Section 71 of the Municipal Finance Management Act states that the accounting officer of a municipality must, after the end of each month, submit to the mayor of the municipality, National Treasury and the relevant provincial treasury, a statement in the prescribed format on the state of the municipality's budget. At last week's meeting, Madinda requested an updated report on the grants.
* Now read about Makana's efforts to salvage its equitable share "Makana's lifeline in the balance" (below).
