Latest news with #KwaZulu-NatalTreasury
IOL News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- IOL News
KZN Treasury will not provide additional funding for Reed Dance festival after King Misuzulu changes venue
King Misuzulu has moved this year's Reed Dance festival from Enyokeni palace to Mashobeni Palace. Image: Bongani Mbatha/ Independent Newspapers KwaZulu-Natal Treasury says it will not provide additional funding for this year's Reed Dance festival to cater for the extra cost created by king Misuzulu kaZwelithini's decision to move the event away from the R140 million amphitheatre at Enyokeni royal palace. In a surprise move, the king at the weekend announced that the September event will be held at Mashobeni Palace in Pongola in the north-east of the province and not the recently completed 2,000 capacity Enyokeni amphitheatre which had been built to accommodate guests attending the event. The move meant that the government may need extra funding to cater for VIP marquees and toilets, which would not be necessary if the festival remained at the original venue. However, Finance MEC Francois Rodgers dismissed any fears that the cash-strapped provincial government will bear additional costs. The department's spokesperson Nkosikhona Duma said it will be up to the department of Arts and Culture as well as the Office of the Premier to reprioritise their budgets to accommodate this move. 'MEC Rodgers posits that the provincial fiscus is constrained, therefore no additional funds will be provided for this move. The MEC continues with efforts to ensure that the AmaZulu Royal household gets to a position of self-sustenance so that it may play a role in funding moves of a similar kind,' said Duma. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading An official from the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure said the department had pushed contractors to finish the Enyokeni project early as the venue was already accommodated in the budget and it was declared ready for the event on Friday. The provincial government through the Public Works department has just completed a massive amphitheatre at Enyokeni which cost the taxpayers R140 million. It was expected to be used for this year's reed dance event. The R140 million Enyokeni Royal Precinct building, which can house 2,000 guests, was expected to be used for this year's Reed Dance festival. Image: Willem Phungula The dome-designed structure was requested by Misuzulu's father, the late King Goodwill Zwelithini for the purpose of the reed dance and has facilities which do not require the hiring of VIP marquees or toilets. The government is expected to bear the extra cost of makeshift pavilion seating at Mashobeni, where maidens and the public will gather for the king's address after the presentation of reeds by the maidens. Defending his decision, the king said he was honouring Queen Nandi and King Shaka who had a palace in the area. The king said that by building the palace there, he was reviving Shaka's palace as well as his legacy. 'I am aware that many are used to this event being held in eNyokeni. Today, I wish to announce that the event will now be held here at Mashobeni palace on 12 to 14 September. We are sorry to those who wanted the event to continue at Enyokeni palace. My decision is in line with the fact that Queen Nandi and King Shaka lived here so it's important to revive his palace,' said Misuzulu at the weekend. KZN Public Works and Infrastructure MEC, Martin Meyer, said he had noted the announcement made by the king to move the ceremony to Mashobeni royal residence, however, he said his department was just an implementing agent as per the mandate given on each project by a client department. 'In this matter the client was the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture along with the Office of The Premier. Therefore any queries would be best placed before those offices.' Arts and Culture spokesperson Ntando Mnyando said his department could not say anything further about the decision as its' duty is to organise events wherever the king and royal family want them to be. The Premier's Office is yet to comment on the matter. The royal family's spokesperson Prince Thulani Zulu had also not commented on Treasury's announcement.
TimesLIVE
23-05-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
KZN finance MEC praises advantages of public-private partnerships
The KwaZulu-Natal Treasury believes government-private sector collaborations offer the best solution to addressing the province's ongoing fiscal challenges. KwaZulu-Natal is one of the provinces that are most affected by the country's economic struggles, including fiscal constraints, rising debt and high social demands. The province has faced further challenges including infrastructure backlogs, the aftermath of the social unrest a few years ago, natural disasters and an almost R70bn cut in its baseline budget in the past four years, which is almost half of its current allocation of R158bn. The provincial government has since identified increased collaboration with the private sector as a key strategy to counter these challenges. On Friday, finance MEC Francois Rodgers hosted the inaugural private-public-partnership (PPP) summit in Durban. Rodgers noted that the approach of treating the private sector as an adversary had led to costly failures and inefficiencies in state institutions, which was unsustainable in the current fiscal environment. 'The days of government competing with the private sector in the economic sector has proved to be both costly and a failed policy direction. Poor policy choices such as the habitual bailout of state-owned entities has played a destructive role on our national fiscus, ultimately affecting the equitable share allocation to the provincial fiscus. 'It is estimated that R560bn was used over 10 years to bail out some of our state-owned entities. This could well have been better directed to provinces and local government.' He said the government's strategic alliance of increased private sector involvement was crucial in the policy direction of the new administration to lower borrowing over the medium term. He added the premier's office was in the process of establishing an economic development desk to accelerate public sector participation in key projects. When properly structured, PPPs will combine the best of both sectors: allowing the province to tap into the strengths of the private sector in efficiency, innovation and capital while maintaining public sector governance and development goals. Rodgers noted, however, that PPPs should not to be seen as a magic solution but were a valuable tool that could help, especially in times of fiscal constraints. 'In the current fiscal climate KZN's infrastructure needs — spanning logistics, health care, housing, water, sanitation and energy — far exceed what the public purse can afford. According to provincial estimates, we require tens of billions in new investments over the next decade just to maintain momentum. Government alone cannot fund this.' The advantages of PPPs include accelerating infrastructure delivery, Improved efficiency in public services, attracting new investment and spurring job creation. He said this had already been demonstrated in other provinces like Gauteng and the Western Cape where health PPPs have improved hospital infrastructure and patient outcomes. Rodgers said there were opportunities in the transport and logistics sector including the ongoing N3 corridor linking Durban to Gauteng and the Port of Durban; housing and urban development as well as energy and renewables. For this to work though, government needed to create a conducive environment for business to trust and invest in.
TimesLIVE
07-05-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
KZN education and health departments struggle with supplier payments as financial challenges mount
The KwaZulu-Natal Treasury says the provincial government will have to do 'business unusual' if it is to navigate its ongoing financial crisis. This comes as most of the departments, includingthe frontline departments of health and education, are falling behind in their financial commitments to service providers. This week, unpaid service providers staged sit-ins in the provincial offices of both departments in Pietermaritzburg as they sought answers. The provincial executive council met on Wednesday to discuss these and other governance and service delivery challenges. The education department confirmed that it owed 22% of its suppliers payments for the National Schools Nutrition Programme for March and April, while the health department owes R1.7bn to its service providers. Education MEC Sipho Hlomuka confirmed that the failure to make payments on time was mainly due to technical difficulties linked to the new financial system, a migration from BAS version 5 to BAS Version 6. That has since been resolved, and the department said it made the payment to the affected suppliers on Tuesday, which will reflect on Friday. However, he added that some of the suppliers were at fault for the payment delays through noncompliance with the submission standards. 'So far, we have paid all service providers that have complied with contracts in terms of submitting invoices with the supporting documents... We are certain that before May 10, as we're working with [National] Treasury, all the outstanding service providers that have submitted proper invoices will be paid.' Some of the invoices were submitted without signatures from the schools, which is required as proof that the correct items were submitted. As a result, there are service providers who have not been paid for October and November, but the department is working with them to resolve that, Hlomuka said. Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said the upgrade to the new payment system was a factor but admitted that their challenges centre mainly around the financial limitations, which meant they couldn't pay all the service providers on time in this financial year. She said they indicated as far back as November 2024 to both the provincial cabinet and the portfolio committee that they would not be able to pay all the service providers on time in this financial year because of the financial challenges facing the department. She said they presented a plan to negotiate with the bigger suppliers whose invoices exceed R500,000 a month to spread their payments over 60 days, instead of paying within 30 days 'Spreading the payment over 60 days doesn't mean you write off the debt, it means at some point you will have to pay that amount, and that point was April 1 when we were expecting our full allocation to come in.' 'As soon as we were able to get the allocation in April we started the process of paying the service providers, but we were not able to pay in the manner that we should have for the last three weeks because of challenges with BAS.' Finance MEC Francois Rodgers said the frontline departments have been the worst affected by budget cuts, which is why he tried to focus on them in his budget allocation. The new administration inherited budget cuts of R70bn over four years, which is almost 50% of their current allocation of R158bn. With economic growth projected at just over 1%, Rodgers said it will take a long time to reverse the situation if they don't change their approach to budgeting and spending. 'It's reprioritisation: while we're getting through this economic crises, we have to do business unusual when it comes to finance... We have to change (and) that is what we're going to do in 2026/27; our frontline departments must be our priority and then we have to look at the balance of the funding for the province,' he said. 'We've been given permission by National Treasury for a procurement system which is going to align the supply chain with BAS and payments and departments will no longer be able to procure if they don't have the cash to back it, which is also going to address some of the challenges that we have.' Premier Thami Ntuli said they have always been transparent with their financial limitations, and what is happening now is what their analysis and projections warned about, which they have communicated to the public.
