Municipal spending on consultants in South Africa
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Category: Fiscal policy and government spending
Date: 26 July 2017 |
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In today's blog we take a look at South Africa's municipalities spending on consultants as a percentage of their overall expenditure for the quarter ending March 2017. One can only assume that the higher the percentage of total expenditure spent on consultants the more incompetent and clueless the municipality is. Or that there is such a lack of know how in that particular municipality that a large percentage of overall spending has to go to consultants who actually knows how to run a municipality and the services such municipalities are required and expected to run.
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Real incompetence in Northern Cape and Free State?
The interactive map below shows the percentage of total expenditure spent on consultants per municipality. The smaller the circle (and the darker green the circle, the less money as percentage of total expenditure by the municipality is spent on consultants. The bigger the circle and the redder it gets, the higher the percentage of total expenditure spent on consultants.
Its pretty obvious from the interactive map that there are serious problems in the municipalities in Northern Cape and the Free State. Siyathemba spent 28.9% of their total expenditure on consultants. Close by municipal neighbour !Kheis didnt cover itself in glory either, with 16.7% of total expenditure going to consultants. Other noteworthy poor performers in terms of large chunks of overall expenditure include the following municipalities:
Tokologo (FS): 15.7%
Gamagara (NC) : 14.5%
Mangaung (FS): 14.5%
Matatiele (EC): 6.2%
Elundini (EC): 5.1%
Nkandla (yes that well known municipality serving SA's number 1 President Zuma): 4.5% (probably consulting fees pays on how to use the "fire pool" in Nkandla
Greater Tubatse (LP): 4.2%
Fetakgomo (LP): 4.2%
Bela-Bela (warmbaths) (LP): 4.2%
Tokologo (FS): 15.7%
Gamagara (NC) : 14.5%
Mangaung (FS): 14.5%
Matatiele (EC): 6.2%
Elundini (EC): 5.1%
Nkandla (yes that well known municipality serving SA's number 1 President Zuma): 4.5% (probably consulting fees pays on how to use the "fire pool" in Nkandla
Greater Tubatse (LP): 4.2%
Fetakgomo (LP): 4.2%
Bela-Bela (warmbaths) (LP): 4.2%
The National Treasury and government has to be concerned about that fact that in certain municipalities such large portions of money spent by the municipalities is not going towards delivering services, but rather to pay for consultants (note we excluded contractors from this calculation). So the above graphic and numbers shows money spent on consultants only. Money spent on consultants is money taken away from citizens in terms of physical services that could have been delivered to them.
While it is doom and gloom in a few provinces, the national average percentage of total expenditure spent on consultants is roughly 1.88% of total expenditure by all municipalities in South Africa. That amounts to R972million spent on consultants for the quarter ending March 2017., which implies if the same amount is spent in the other quarters of 2017, South African municipalities would have spent around R3.9billion on paying consultants. A shocking amount of money. Thats 324million white breads that could have been bought by schools across the country to feed hungry school kids.