KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance, Francois Rodgers, has made another move to help curb overspending within government departments.
This week, Rodgers announced a clamp-down on the use of hired vehicles for officials.
The MEC said a recent investigation revealed that his office inherited a legacy of wasteful expenditure.
"The investigation centres around vehicle rentals for MECs in the province. Over four months, R16.8 million was spend on vehicle hire for 11 provincial government departments," he said.
Rodgers' spokesperson, Nkosikona Duma, told IOL that the procurement process is expected to be wrapped up within the next two weeks.
"The procurement process of vehicles for the utilisation of Members of the Executive Council in KZN is currently under way. We expect that this process will conclude within the next two weeks. At this stage, we cannot disclose any further details on the matter," Duma said.
The cost-cutting move comes months after Rodgers announced the closing down of Durban's Treasury office as his way to effective budget spending.
In June, he said the closure of the leased offices will save KZN Treasury an estimated R1m per year. These funds will be directed to other service delivery needs in the department.
“During my consultation with my executive team in the department, I directed that business cannot continue as usual and we need to streamline operations. In this regard, I have decided to close the Durban office (which served as a secondary office), with an annual lease amount of R1,115 ,86.40, translating to a total value of just over R5,578,000 over five years that we will save,” Rodgers said.
The MEC said his department needs to lead by example.
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