Question NW1241 to the Minister of Transport
28 June 2021 - NW1241
Sithole, Mr KP to ask the Minister of Transport
(1)Whether his department made allocations to provincial departments for the specific purpose of supporting private bus companies to acquire personal protective equipment; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details of the specified allocation to each provincial department; (2) whether there has been any monitoring on how the funds were allocated to private companies; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details of the list of (a) all such companies that may have benefited and (b) the amounts allocated to each; (3) whether he will make a statement on the matter?
Reply:
1. The Department allowed provinces to utilise up to 5% of the Public Transport Operations Grant funds reprioritised to respond to Covid-19 pandemic for the sanitisation of public transport vehicles and other public transport facilities, including the provision of personal protective equipment for public transport workers and hand sanitisers for passengers. For the 2020/21 the maximum amount provinces could utilise for the acquisition of personal protective equipment totalled R337 480 000 broken down as follows:
Eastern Cape: R13 450 000
Free State: R14 871 000
Gauteng: R129 965 000
Kwazulu Natal: R62 318 000
Limpopo: R20 102 000
Mpumalanga: R33 847 000
Northern Cape: R3 026 000
North West: R6 221 000
Western Cape: R53 680 000
2. Provinces are responsible for determining how these funds are distributed to individual operators and ensure that expenditure is within the allocated amount. The Department only receives high level consolidated monthly performance reports from provinces in line with the requirements of the grant framework. Specific details relating to names of operators/companies and precise amounts are retained by provinces.
(3) All grant related information including allocations, grant conditions and past performance are gazetted in the annual Division of Revenue Act and its Framework hence there is no need for an announcement.