Melikhaya Zaganana3 November 2024 | 13:36

OUTA concerned over the allocation of R5 billion to SANRAL in MTBPS

OUTA said that SANRAL already received over R3 billion rand in the past 14 years, without any transparency regarding the use of the funds.

OUTA concerned over the allocation of R5 billion to SANRAL in MTBPS

Enoch Godongwana, the South African Minister of Finance, delivers his mid-term budget policy statement in the Cape Town City Hall, which is being used as a venue for the South African Parliament, in Cape Town on 1 November 2023. Picture: @GovernmentZA/ X.

CAPE TOWN - Corruption watchdog OUTA has raised concerns about the allocation of over R5 billion to SANRAL by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

OUTA said that SANRAL already received over R3 billion in the past 14 years, without any transparency regarding the use of the funds.

The watchdog pointed out that while Gauteng's e-tolls had been scrapped, SANRAL continued to issue summonses to motorists for unpaid e-toll debts.

During the medium-term budget policy statement on Wednesday, the finance minister noted that the national debt had increased, due to over R16 million in Gauteng freeway improvement project debt.

OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage said that SANRAL must account for how previously allocated funds were used, before receiving additional funding.

"What we have here is that the interest has been mounting all this time. So clearly, they have not been settling those bonds with this money allocated from Treasury, and I guess once again, we have a lack of transparency, we always have from SANRAL by the way. So it is a concern, especially, when we have to cut budgets like the NPA, we need a lot of funds in the criminal justice system to deal with corruption."