Confusion around budget for the supply and delivery of meals to learners

In a written reply to my questions tabled in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL), the MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi denied that his department had applied for a Covid-19 deviation for the period between the 26 March 2020 and 16 April 2020.

See reply here 

A deviation of the planned budget is the difference in costs between the planned baseline against the actual budget.

However, according to a recent presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Finance, the Department of Education had indeed applied for a deviation between the period of 26 March 2020 and 16 April 2020 for the supply and delivery of meals to learners.

See presentation here

The MEC in a reply in June denied that any deviations were applied for yet the presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Finance in April indicates that he did.

This is a clear indication that either the MEC does not know what is happening in his department or he is hiding the fact that the department has indeed applied for a deviation. Again, this shows that the MEC was not coping heading up two departments which includes the Department of Social Development.

It is high time that the MEC must concentrate on his department instead of leaving all the work to the officials.

The DA is calling on MEC Lesufi to come clean about the deviation that his department applied for, to ensure that everything is above board.

The DA is taking its oversight role very seriously especially with the emergency procurement instructions from National Treasury and will monitor departments to ensure that they spend money responsibly.