Public sector bodies will have to get used to the practice of doing more with less resources, if the public purse is to be sustainable.
Transform SA Online attended a Business Briefing in Four Ways, Johannesburg during which the Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene, disclosed that cost containment would have to be adopted for the government to curb the culture of excessive wastage of tax payers’ funds rampant in the public institutions.
“It is a culture that needs to change. Do not do with public funds what you would not do with your own money,” said Nene
The minister acknowledged that the measures which the government had started to show results but there still was ample room for improvement. This, he said, was evident in the supply chain processes.
“We are now able is procure learner support material that previously cost R300 per package for between R95 and R115,” Nene singled out.
Nene’s war on recklessness should not be surprising. Government is buckling under pressure of managing its resources prudently, in the face of a gloomy economic outlook.
