Finance
With reference to her reply to question 7 of 8 May 2025:
(1)(a) When was the Province’s 2024 budget allocation subjected to “fiscal consolidation, a reduction of R6,4 billion over the 2024 MTEF” and (b) what was the source or cause of the reduction of R6,4 billion;
(2)whether the Accounting Officer of the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) provided the Provincial Treasury with a breakdown of the anticipated revenue and expenditure of the Department for the 2024/25 financial year in terms of sec-tion 40(4)(a) of the PFMA; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3)whether the Accounting Officer of the WCED complied with section 40(4)(b) of the PFMA; if so, why did the Provincial Treasury find that the expenditure estimates submitted by the Accounting Officer of the WCED could not sustain the annual Cost of Employment estimates?
The fiscal consolidation of R6.4 billion was included in the allocation letter from National Treasury for the Province in respect of the 2024 MTEF budget. These reductions were imposed on all Provinces, of which, the Western Cape’s share amounted to R6.4 billion. The causes are described in the 2023 National Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. The Western Cape Government also published information on Fiscal consolidation on pages 32 and 33 of the 2023 Western Cape Medium Term Budget Policy Statement.
Yes, the breakdown of the anticipated revenue and expenditure of the Department for the 2024/25 financial year was provided.
This included a breakdown of the:
Annual revenue amounting to R30.850 billion; and also disaggregated on a monthly basis of the financial year (April 2024 to March 2025); and also
- Expenditure amounting to R30.850 billion comprising of Compensation of Employees (R22.308 billion), Goods and Services (R3.463 billion), Transfers and Subsidies (R3.683 billion), Payments for Capital Assets (R1.391 billion) and Payment for Financial Assets (R5.116 million) This is further disaggregated on a monthly basis of the financial year (April 2024 to March 2025) to reflect the expenditure projections.
- Yes, the Accounting Officer of the WCED complied with section 40(4)(b) read in conjunction with section 40(4)(c) of the PFMA and submitted information on actual revenue and expenditure on a monthly basis in the prescribed format, namely the In-Year Monitoring (IYM) reporting model.
- As previously communicated, the Provincial Treasury was informed by the Western Cape Education Department through the early warning system in the July 2024 IYM report submitted in August 2024, that the measures put in place as part of their HR plan to curb spending was not achieving the desired result, putting pressure on their budget. Subsequently, the Provincial Treasury engaged on the information that was provided and measures were put in place to address this pressure through the 2024 Adjusted estimates process.
