Treasury said that government departments would no longer be allowed to choose suppliers and would have to resort to open tender processes in awarding contracts for PPE and COVID-19-related goods and services.
As billions of rand are pumped into the economy to combat COVID-19 and its social and economic fallout, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said that he’d told Treasury officials to find ways of preventing fraud and corruption.
The IMF on Monday approved South Africa’s request for a $4.3 billion loan, which translates to about R70 billion.
In a series of overnight tweets, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni issued a reminder that a tender was an ethical contract and not a blank cheque to deceive and steal.
The alcohol industry said that the renewed ban of alcohol sales with immediate effect had resulted in the sector having no choice but to apply for a deferment.
In court papers, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said that government was considering a number of options to 'mobilise' funding, including approaching institutions for the investment of pension funds.
The DA, EFF, FF+ and the ACDP all voted against it, but the Bill passed by 214 votes to 119 with no abstentions.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has called for those who steal funds intended to ease the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown to be dealt with decisively.
A sovereign debt crisis is when a country cannot afford to pay any of the interest or the capital on amounts that it has borrowed, with dire consequences for the economy.
National Treasury said that it could not spend more money as the country faced a debt crisis.
Cabinet described it as a roadmap to stabilise debt and was optimistic it would get the economy back on track.
The Treasury on Wednesday presented a supplementary budget in response to the coronavirus crisis that projected a wider budget deficit, while public debt was estimated to be more than three-quarters of gross domestic product in the medium term.
The urgency of reining in the government’s spiralling debt was the overriding message from Mboweni’s special adjustment budget this week, and it was one he continued to hammer home.
The Finance Minister’s budget focused mainly on COVID-19 spending and servicing South Africa’s mounting debt.
MEC for Finance and Economic Opportunities David Maynier said that costs were expected to exceed R5 billion in 2020/21, in the Western Cape.
The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry's Geoff Jacobs says the budget was strong on intent but woefully short of detail.
The government is either in talks with or plans to approach the International Monetary Fund, the New Development Bank (Brics bank)) as well as the World Bank for urgent funding.
KZN Education MEC Kwazi Mshengu has told Eyewitness News that it will be impossible to accomodate more grades without additional funding.
