Question NW1902 to the Minister of Finance
22 October 2021 - NW1902
Hill-Lewis, Mr GG to ask the Minister of Finance
Whether each provincial government received approval for their budget roll-over requests for unspent Early Childhood Development Employment (ECD) Stimulus Relief Fund monies; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, on what date is it envisaged that the payments will be made to qualifying ECDs?
Reply:
The 2020/21 provincial conditional grant roll over process was concluded and provinces were notified of the outcome at the beginning of June 2021. All approvals granted were based on pre-audited spending as of 31 March 2021. In terms of the ECD Stimulus Relief Funds of the budget of R496 million, provinces underspent by around R392 million. Eight provinces, except for Western Cape who had fully spent their allocation, subsequently applied for the unspent funds to be rolled over to the 2021/22 financial year. After assessing all applications, taking into consideration commitments provinces had incurred; relevant legislation; and Treasury Regulations, approval was granted for R351 million to be rolled over.
This was communicated to Provincial Treasuries, who in turn notified provincial departments on 7 June 2021, Limpopo was notified on 21 June 2021.