Joburg officials told to stick within budget

Managers across City of Johannesburg units have been instructed to take serious measures to ensure that their expenditure is within budget and that money does not go back to National Treasury at the end of the financial year.

An internal memo seen by TimesLIVE which was issued this week by Kiran Ramkissoon‚ deputy director: creditors and payroll‚ directed finance managers in the city what to do as the city tries to keep its finances in order.

The memo flows from an instruction from the city manager‚ Ndivhoniswani Lukhwareni‚ to reduce expenditure in line with the actual revenue performance.

“Please note as per the instruction 2(c) ‚ where no current commitment exists on line items identified through the expenditure review process‚ no further expenditure should be incurred on these line items for the remainder of the year‚” the memorandum read.

It then listed the line items‚ which include:

• engagement of consultants;
• travel and subsistence;
• domestic hotel accommodation;
• vehicle hire;
• credit cards;
• catering;
• advertising;
• events;
• catering;
• sponsorships
• conferences;
• office furnishing;
• printing and stationary;
• purchasing of newspapers and magazines; and
• security measures.

“Any orders dated after 15 January 2018 for items listed on the attached communication will not be paid by Merchant Payments and will be returned back to the departments.

“If an order dated after 15 January 2018 for items listed on the attached communication that needs to be paid [it] must be approved by the city manager‚” the memo read.

Lukhwareni instructed directors in various departments to reduce expenditure in order to enable the city to reach its budgeted surplus.

“The city has always budgeted for cash-backed surpluses to augment grant and loan funding for capex. Failure to generate planned surpluses negatively impacts on the city’s ability to fund capex‚” Lukhwareni said.

He added that the city had noted that a number of projects have either not taken off or are significantly behind projected implementation plans.

Lukhwareni instructed that:

- spending should be focused on ensuring grants are optimally spent. No money should be rolled over or sent back to National Treasury at year end;

- projects for which no proof of commitment can be provided in the form of a letter prior to December 31‚ will be deferred to future budget cycles.

“Budget submission should project spending that is practical and supported by a cash flow plan within the remainder of the current financial year‚” Lukhwareni said.