In a bid to further reduce wasteful expenditure, Treasury has rejected most of government’s requests blow state cash on luxury items this festive season.<\/p>\n
This is according to a report by the City Press, which said that 56 applications for festive spending were received by Treasury, of which only nine were approved, and 39 were rejected. The other eight were still pending.<\/p>\n
The auditor general revealed last year that R30 billion of taxpayers’ money was ‘wasted’ on consultants, travel and catering in the 2013\/14 financial year.<\/p>\n
In his budget speech in February, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene noted that austerity measures had already curbed wasteful spending in these departments by over R3.3 billion.<\/p>\n
The 2014\/15 report is expected this week.<\/p>\n
Among the requests that were rejected were:<\/p>\n
According to two government sources cited by the City Press, the austerity measures have “taken the fun” out of end of year festivities.<\/p>\n
You can read the full story in the City Press dated 22 November 2015.<\/em><\/p>\n Public works loses R35 billion in wasteful spending: report<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Eliminate wasteful spending and corruption: Gordhan<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on government spending<\/h3>\n