17 January 2008

The Minister of Arts and Culture, Dr. Z. Pallo Jordan made a conditional grant of R180-million to provincial government for this financial year which ends in March [2007/2008 financial year.]

The purpose of the funds was to enable to upgrade library facilities and buy books to equip their collections.

In fact, the Department conducted an investigation to establish a comprehensive picture of the state of needs.

“Of course, this is part of the Department’s mandate to promote a culture of reading.

“The amount allocated to each province was determined by the provincial priorities that needed to be addressed in the first year of the conditional grant,” said Minister Jordan.

The amounts ranged from R13,9-Million for KwaZulu-Natal to R24-Million for the Northern Cape.

By last October KwaZulu-Natal had spent 33% of the budget while the Northern Cape 27,7% of its budget on upgrading facilities and buying books.

The Eastern Cape, North West and Mpumalanga received R22-Million each but only spent 9,3%, 9,0% and 5,1%, respectively.

 “Unfortunately, the grants were not prescriptive. In fact, we have left it to the provincial governments to divide the allocations according to their predetermined priorities in their own provinces,” said Minister Jordan.

BUDGET ALLOCATIONS TO PROVINCES:

Eastern Cape                        R 22 680 000-00
Free State                              R 16 470 000-00
Gauteng                                 R 18 810 000-00
KwaZulu-Natal                       R 13 950 000-00
Limpopo                                 R 22 860 000-00
Mpumalanga                          R 22 860 000-00
Northern Cape                       R 24 030 000-00
North West                             R 21 600 000-00
Western Cape                       R 16 740 000-00

BUDGET SPENT ON LIBRARY UPGRADES AND BOOK BUYING BY END OF OCTOBER 2007

 
* Most of the funding in the Western Cape in 2007/2008 is spent on the appointment of staff for local municipalities

PERCENTAGE OF BUDGET SPEND BY OCTOBER 2007

Eastern Cape                     9,3%
Free State                           33,6%
Gauteng                              25,9%
KwaZulu-Natal                    33,9%
Limpopo                              9,0%
Mpumalanga                       26,3%
Northern Cape                    27,7%
North West                          5,1%
Western Cape                    47,6%

For further clarity, kindly contact Sandile Memela, Spokesperson for Ministry of Arts & Culture at 082 800 3750 or Premi Appalraju, Media Liaison Officer at
082 903 6778.

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