The Department of Justice and Correctional Services is in discussions with Treasury to find R90 million for the cash-strapped Zondo Commission to finish its work.
On Wednesday, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola told the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development tat R75 million was reprioritised to fund the commission.
On Friday, director-general of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Doctor Mashabane told the committee that the money was to fund a deficit for the commission for the months January to March. He said the department was asked to "scrape around" to find the money.
In February, the Gauteng High Court extended the commission's deadline to the end of June.
Mashabane said the department had asked the commission how much money it needed, and the answer came back as R90 million.
Mashabane said they had approached Treasury to find this money. He said the commission was not an entity of the department, and it would be unfair for these funds to come out of the department's baseline budget.
Conclude
"We can only hope that it will not be more than that R90 million, and that that R90 million will help the commission to conclude by June," Mashaba said.
He was responding to ACDP MP Steve Swart, who asked where the R75 million Lamola referred to would come from, given the department's budgetary constraints.
The department's budget has been cut with more than R2 billion from the previously budgeted R23.884 billion for the 2021 – 2022 financial year to R21.546 billion.
By December, the commission had already cost the state more than R800 million. At a media briefing after delivering his budget in February, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said the commission was expected to finish its work with the R63 million it was granted earlier.
SOURCE: NEWS24
