10 Nov 2021

The Constituency Community Projects has not been discontinued in the past two years, says Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Mabuse Pule

He said on account of budgetary constraints and the low expenditure by councils from previous financial years, the 2020/2021 budget allocation of P300 million could not accommodate new projects and was mainly used to cater for the backlog from the 2018/19 and 2019/20 financial years.

Similarly, he said during the start of the current financial year, councils had still not completed all their projects and had substantial unspent balances from the previous financial years.  

“This is mainly attributed to limited movement during the COVID-19 period which obviously delayed projects. Given this situation, my ministry could not justify a request for additional programme funds considering that we also had a budget ceiling constraint,” said Mr Pule.

He said his ministry was equally concerned about the state of affairs and was therefore continuing to work closely with various councils to fast track completion of all outstanding projects by the end of this financial year.

The MP for Nkange, Dr Never Tshabang had asked the minister if he was aware that Constituency Community Projects had been discontinued for the past two financial years.

He also wanted to know the reason for discontinuation and abruptly stopping the programme. The MP also wanted to know measures in place to continue with already planned projects. ENDS