Page 647 - Provincial Treasury Estimates.pdf

Estimates of the Provincial Revenue and Expenditure (EPRE) – 2023/24 Financial Year
Treasury supported departments with the implementation plans and revenue collection through Chief

Financial Officer (CFO) Forum meetings, Ad-hoc meetings with concerned departments and engagement
of stakeholder institutions such as the Road Accident Fund.

In respect to Supply Chain Management (SCM) reforms, the department continued to support the

prioritisation of the Small Medium, and Micro-sized Enterprises (SMMEs) development with a special focus
on local procurement including women, persons with disabilities and youth. There was also improvement

in payment of creditors within a 30-day period to ensure that SMME’s cash flows and financial
sustainability. Provincial Treasury implemented various interventions to mitigate the non-payment of
suppliers which include introducing additional disbursements dates, participation on the Health Invoice

Tracking System development, Quarterly Creditor Forums focusing on Department of Health and
Department of Education and utilisation of the Have I Been paid invoice tracking application.

Provincial departments were also supported on the implementation of the Local Economic Development

(LED) Procurement Framework in order to achieve 50 per cent local spend as planned and ensure all
outstanding departmental LED procurement strategies are reviewed. As at end December 2022, the
cumulative procurement spend on Eastern Cape based suppliers was 49.3 per cent.

The Provincial Government, through Provincial Treasury has established a government procurement of

agricultural products programme which aims to capacitate and support farmers to qualify for the
government market and to advise on sourcing of agricultural products in the Eastern Cape. In November

2022, the Province hosted a benchmarking workshop with the Mpumalanga Department of Education,
Western Cape Department of Education and Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
towards crafting a suitable model for the Province. Through this programme, the following departments

are targeted; Department of Education, Department of Health, Department of Social Development, South
African National Defence Force and Correctional Services. The Department of Rural Development and

Agrarian Reform (DRDAR) is in the process of refining the database of farmers and aggregators across
the Province from which agricultural products can be sourced. In the meanwhile, the Department of Health
has developed a Strategy for Procurement of Patient Food for Hospitals which is targeting Eastern Cape
based farmers, fresh produce markets, abattoirs and aggregators. To achieve greater integration and

coordination across spheres of government, Provincial Treasury supported departments on the
implementation of the Infrastructure Program Management Plans (IPMPs).

The department continued to remain fully involved in its oversight role and assisting departments as a

strategy to improve audit outcomes. The results of the 2021/22 audit show an improvement, as the
province managed to obtain 22 unqualified audit outcomes and three qualified audit opinions for the PFMA

institutions. Hand–on support was provided to all departments during the audit process. Whilst at municipal
level, 21 municipalities attained unqualified audit opinions and this is equivalent to 54 percent of
municipalities in the province. Included in these municipalities are 3 municipalities that attained unqualified

audit opinions without findings. Of the 36 municipalities, 29 municipalities’ budgets were assessed to be
funded and this is an improvement from the previous financial year. This is equivalent to 80 percent of the
delegated municipalities in the province. Various interventions including fiscal discipline, implementation

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