Water Department’s irregular expenditure at R18bn – Mchunu

Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu revealed that his department’s irregular expenditure is sitting at a massive R18 billion.

When was the money racked up?

Minister Mchunue said that for the 2020/21 financial year, his department saw ‘huge amounts’ of irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure. He revealed the news while briefing Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Wednesday, 14 September.

Mchunu explained that the irregular expenditure had accumulated over several years. Adding that by last year, it had reached ‘huge amounts’.

“There was irregular expenditure of R18 billion from both accounts, the main account and the trading account. And then fruitless and wasteful expenditure amounted to R287 million,”

said Mchunu.

Mchunu says certain contracts needed to be cancelled to stop the irregular expenditure

He further stated that these are huge sums of money that are filed under the titles of ‘unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful’ adding that the situation is ‘very ugly’.

In order to put an end to this irregular expenditure, Mchunu said they would need to cancel certain contracts. EWN reports that the Minister also briefed Scopa regarding corruption in the provision of emergency water tankers.

What is the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency?

Meanwhile, it was reported that Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu says his department is in the process of establishing the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency (NWRIA).

According to Mchunu, the Agency will finance and implement large-scale investments that are required to ensure that the country has a sufficient bulk water supply. In March this year, a project manager for the NWRIA James Ndlovu explained the purpose of the agency.

Ndlovu stated that it will be used to provide raw water with the main focus being on the under-served and the poor. They hope to ensure a sustainable, equitable and reliable water supply from the national water resources infrastructure. Read the full story here.

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