1. Hon. Speaker and members, the former UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon once stated, “Corruption measures not just in the billions of dollars of squandered or stolen government resources, but most poignantly in the absence of the hospitals, schools, clean water, roads and bridges that would have changed families and communities”.
2. Therefore, underspending, irregular expenditure and fruitless and wasteful expenditure is very aptly captured for these reasons, besides other reasons given for such Finance Bills like the KZN Adjustments Appropriation Bill 2021/2022.
3. I will now go to the heart of our challenges as many Hon. Members have covered specific areas.
4. To the Hon. MEC of Finance, it is a great relief that KZN has a positive cash reserve, however it is imperative Hon. MEC that Treasury assist every department to have a fully-fledged risk management unit.
5. Decentralisation is key, Hon. Premier. This unit in the OTP but has major capacity challenges. Such a design sends out the wrong message, i.e.: “todo wrong whilst everyone is watching”. Let’s stop being control freaks for the wrong reasons and allow for stronger internal control within departments. This was the plan for the Province initially.
6. Our backs are against the wall and we must now do both the right things and do things right. The scope of financial management to utilise slow-moving conditional grants means proper measurements of NPV on different projects to then choose what investments are worth making, so that projects are successful and we can really show value for money.
7. Scenario planning is an area that now needs to be implemented given the unpredictability of health and environmental conditions on our lives, scarce public and private resources and ultimately our economy.
8. For these Hon. Premier we now require strategic HRM as we have civil servants with core competencies and capabilities. This also means the filling of critical posts as a matter of urgency.
9. With these recommendations the MF supports the KZN Adjustments Appropriation Bill 2021/2022.
10. Thank you.

Hon.S. Thakur-Rajbansi