PARLY MOTION FOR RELEASE OF TLC’S E30 MILLION

LOBAMBA – Parliament is expected to today order the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, to release the E30 million budget allocation to The Luke Commission (TLC) within seven days.

This is according to the House of Assembly Order Paper, dated Wednesday May 29, 2024. Lobamba Lomdzala Member of Parliament (MP) Marwick Khumalo will move a motion of urgent public importance and he will be seconded by Maseyisini MP Nokuthula Dlamini.

Facilitate

The MP is expected to move that the Minister of Finance facilitate the payment of the budgetary allocation amounting to E30 million to TLC within seven days, as it was approved by Parliament in the Appropriation Act, 2024. “All impediments, originating either from the Ministry of Health or any other source, that results in the delay or militating against the funds from being paid to the entity, should be dealt with separately, without using them as a means of stalling or frustrating the funds, because human life is at stake since our citizens, especially the elderly, can no longer be accommodated due to the astronomical levels of patients inflow.” reads the notice paper. MP Khumalo will further move for the appointment of a select committee of seven members, that will investigate the genesis of the bottlenecks and disharmony between some officials in the Ministry of Health and TLC, and report back to the House, with recommendations, within 14 days.

Utilised

Noteworthy, government financial year commenced on April 1, 2024, which means the new budget has started being utilised since this is the first quarter of the financial year. The 2024/25 annual budget came with the E30 million allocation for TLC. Usually, government allocations come in four folds, which are divided according to the financial quarters. During the Public Account Committee (PAC) sessions, government ministries, including that of Health, told the PAC that the Ministry of Finance took forever to release the appropriated budget, which frustrates operations. The Ministry of Health was being questioned on the E180 million budget appropriation for medical drugs that was not utilised. The issue was that the budget came towards the end of the financial year, which implied that they could not procure medical drugs on time.

Further, late last year, TLC Executive Director, Echo VanderWal blamed the former administration of the Ministry of Health for the challenges the health facility was faced with. She said the challenges started widening in the last three years, when the country and the entire world were battling COVID-19 pandemic. The executive director said during the pandemic, the mismatch between funding and the services offered was too obvious. VanderWal said what pained her the most was that there was E100 million available to the country for COVID-19, but none was directed to TLC. She noted that this occurred at a time when TLC built an oxygen plant that saved many lives and the outcomes were noted in the third wave, but unfortunately, it was not embraced. Following the challenges, MPs and Cabinet ministers visited the facility and pleaded with government to assist. The MP is also expected to move five questions for oral answers.

Khumalo is expected to ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Pholile Shakantu, to inform the House why the embassy staff in the Republic of South Africa was found wanting, yet it was a very busy multilateral station that has had added responsibilities over the years. The minister will also be asked to state whether she was aware that the staff complement remained the same in the last 50-plus years. The Minister of Education and Training, Owen Nxumalo, is expected to inform the House if he is comfortable with the fact that many pupils remained at home, because of financial challenges and some completed school five years ago, without having access to their certificates, because of non-payment of examination fees.

Disadvantaged

If he is not aware, he will be expected to state how he is planning to address this continuous problem, including collecting data on disadvantaged pupils. The MP will also require answers from the minister of Defence and National Security, on why the yearly annual budget of E50 million was recently reduced to E40 million.  It was meant to construct army barracks, but has never been utilised for that purpose, as confirmed by the Ministry of Economic Planning and Development. Instead, budget requests for mobile tents are made.

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