Staff reporter
Bloemfontein – The trip to the 12 World Urban Forum to be held in Cairo, Egypt is raising more eyebrows as power-struggle between Premier continues.
The department Human Settlements will carry the costs for despite the trip being unbudgeted for, and worse, in September a virement request was made to Provincial Treasury to shift R7.6 million from Compensation of Employees to Good and Services.
This is according to a letter from MP Tshele, Financial and Budget Management at Human Settlements to Free State Treasury.
“The department of Human Settlements is experiencing budget pressure in Good and Services as a result of last financial year’s accruals paid in the current financial year. Due to the shortfall identified in goods and services, the virement shifting has to be affected from the compensation of employees to augment funding shortage in Goods and Services.”
The department is requesting to shift the total amount of R7.600 million from Compensation of Employees to Goods and Services in order to avoid a problem of accruals which affect the 2025/26 budget.”
In line with the letter to Treasury, MosaMasemene highlighted financial realities of her department and asked MEC Mokoena to put his instruction on paper should be inclined to proceed against her advice.
“While we fully acknowledge the importance of the World Urban Forum as a global platform for promoting sustainable urbanization and showcasing South Africa’s advancements in human settlements, we must also weigh this against the financial realities of the department.
Participation in the forum would indeed provide valuable opportunities for networking, international cooperation, and knowledge sharing, particularly through the dialogues planned on critical topics such as housing solutions, climate change, and localized financial empowerment.
However, under present financial circumstances, the department is unable to justify the cost. Should the MEC feel inclined to proceed against the advised, I request a written instruction to this effect.”
Joyce Mathae, Free State Premier approved the trip for MEC only as seen in the document.
“Approved/Recommend only for MEC.”
This is drawn from the fact that only the Premier can approve and it will be interesting to see how many people will leave after approval was granted for MEC only.
Further comments were made in the submission although it’s not clear who made these comments in response to Masemene’s notes:
– International trips are approved at Executive level not HOD
– 2nd all departments should have budgeted for trips like this and if not approach the Treasury for advice
– The delegation is determined by the Executive Authority (EA) not Accounting Officer (A)
– Lastly, the interface between the EA and AO is not properly understood AO
– The submission is a written directive
Between Mosa, Saki and Joyce, clearly someone seem lost on who should do what, when and how.
The trio must just make their CVs available for the public to see who is who in the kitchen.
This is developing story.
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