Africa-Press – South-Africa. The government says that, despite conjecture in the public space, there is no withholding of KwaZulu-Natal flood relief money.
In a statement released by government spokesperson, Phumla Williams, on Tuesday, she alluded to a DA press briefing.
“Government notes media reports on an allegation made by the Democratic Alliance at a press briefing that the National Treasury has refused to release funds to be used for disaster relief by KwaZulu-Natal provincial government.
“The allegations levelled against the National Treasury is mischievous and unwarranted at a time when government and society are putting in all efforts to rebuild their lives of those affected by the floods and their livelihoods.”
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DA leader Francois Rodgers said that, when President Cyril Ramaphosa, in the aftermath of the floods, said R1 billion in relief funding would be made available, “he knew at the time that this was not true”.
“This has become apparent after the KZN government admitted that this amount would have to be found through the reprioritisation of the provincial budget over the next three years.
“When a national state of disaster was declared in KZN, this should have ordinarily allowed access to funding from the contingency reserve fund. It appears that this has not happened. So where is the money and what was the purpose of the state of disaster being declared?” Rodgers asked.
Reprioritising funds
Williams said that, in an instance such as the floods, where a disaster takes place, the Disaster Management Act caters for the reprioritisation of funds.
“The reprioritisation of funds are also in line with government’s budgeting system. In addressing the recent floods, government embarked on a phased approach, with the first being the immediate humanitarian relief and the second phase, which involves reconstruction and repair.”
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She said the R1 billion referred to by Ramaphosa relates to funding that is catered for in the 2022 Division of Revenue Bill, for immediate response through the Provincial Disaster Response Grant and the Municipal Disaster Response Grant.
“The reprioritisation of funds from budgets were used to fund immediate needs. As such, there are no delays on the allocation of funds. However, there is a process that must be followed to unlock these funds.”
The process to get funding
Williams said the process for funding includes provinces and municipalities making applications for these funds to the National Disaster Management Centre and Department of Human Settlements, who, in turn, after processing, submits it to National Treasury.
“These funds are available shortly after National Treasury receives and processes an application. It is important to emphasise that the accountability framework has not changed. The procuring departments will have to ensure that procurement and supply chain processes are strictly followed.”
Additional monitoring of money
The government has put in place additional monitoring measures through the Auditor-General (AG) of South Africa, Williams added.
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The AG conducts real-time audits on the disaster response funds made available to provide much-needed relief to affected communities, she said.
“Real-time audits allows non-compliance to be identified early and institutions will be required to correct it. Government urges all stakeholders and commentators to engage with factual information and not create panic and confusion.
“It has been just over a month since heavy flooding wreaked havoc across parts of KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and North West. In all these provinces, government and all stakeholders have been hard at work to recover from these tragic events.
“Government is mobilising all available resources and undertaking every effort to ensure that, as we rebuild, no one is left behind,” Williams said.
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