The eThekwini municipality in KwaZulu-Natal says it finds a decision by the national government to stop the transfer of R100-million in grant money, puzzling and disappointing.
The municipality says the Ministry of Human Settlements informed them this week that National Treasury decided to stop the transfer of this money due to underspending.
It was part of a national grant to eradicate informal settlements. According to eThekwini municipality spokesperson Lindiwe Khuzwayo, Durban is the leading metro in the country in terms of spending on this grant.
She says at the end of the financial year in February, they had spent 54% of the funds.
Khuzwayo adds that they have written to both national departments to explain how they plan to spend all of the grant money by June.
“eThekwini remains the leading metro countrywide in terms of spending of the USDG. This makes the decision by the National Treasury and the Department of Human Settlements to reduce the allocation to eThekwini both puzzling and disappointing. The city will be engaging the two national departments further about this matter.”
