The HIV and Aids unit of the department of health has underspent by R75,1-million in the past financial year - and yet some provinces seem set for a repeat.
Addressing the portfolio committee of health in parliament, Dr Nono Simelela, head of the HIV and Aids unit in the health department, on Monday said KwaZulu-Natal, one of the country's worst-hit provinces, was among five provinces that were yet to submit business plans on how they planned to use the shared R297-million conditional grant for comprehensive HIV and Aids care.
Simelela said the unit had underspent on comprehensive care (R41,7-million), condoms (R10,6-million), the South African National Aids Council (Sanac - R10-million) and "different units" (R6,9-million).
She said an amount of R56,6-million of this would be rolled over as it had been committed to projects.
The Sanac amount, she explained, had not been used because of legal reasons, while R5,9-million of an initial R20-million earmarked for donation to the Global Fund for Aids was saved as a result of the strengthening of the rand, and had also been committed.
She said Mpumalanga's expenditure of 66 percent, the lowest of all the provinces, was in fact a significant improvement given the leadership problems the province had experienced. North West and KwaZulu-Natal had overspent by 108 percent and 187 percent respectively.
What was more worrying, she said, was that KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, Free State, Mpumalanga and North West were yet to submit plans on how they would use their share of the R297-million.
The amount was allocated in addition to the initial R481-million budget for the unit in the last financial year.
The Treasury had instructed that the provinces must, in addition to their business plans on how they planned to use their share of the R481-million, provide further details on how the additional R297-million would be used.
"The fact that these business plans have not yet been submitted does not mean that they have not been drafted. It may well be that they are being finalised for submission soon," Simelela said.