City of Tshwane underspent R1.5 billion of its conditional grants and subsidies

JOHANNESBURG - The cash-strapped City of Tshwane has underspent R1.5 billion of its conditional grants and subsidies. 

This is money allocated to a municipality from the National Treasury for a number of uses. 

A report tabled before the Tshwane council on Thursday, shows the municipality is struggling to spend grants earmarked for transport, housing and informal settlements upgrades. 

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As of the end of March, the capital city had only spent 73% of the grants it received from the National Treasury. 

Opposition parties said the city’s running the risk of forfeiting the money back to the national purse. 

Tshwane Executive Mayor Cilliers Brink said the city must improve its performance. 

“Many of the reasons for underspending in the past are now eliminated, including the presence of top management, all of the Section 56 positions filled, [and] performance agreements. We now have a structure, chaired by the deputy mayor, that looks at the capital projects, [and] the blockages.”

The municipality does have the option of requesting the National Treasury rolls over the unspent funds to the next financial year, which begins next Monday.