R4.3bn set aside for vaccine may not be enough, Treasury s Mogajane tells MPs Treasury wants to tap into its contingency reserves to help fund the country’s COVID-19 vaccination programme. FILE: Treasury Director-General Dondo Mogajane. Picture: @TreasuryRSA/Twitter
2 hours ago
CAPE TOWN - Treasury wants to tap into its contingency reserves to help fund the country’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.
The National Health Department aims to vaccinate about 14 million South Africans this year although, given several setbacks, this is unlikely.
Treasury Director-General Dondo Mogajane said that the R4.3 billion budgeted for vaccines may not be enough.
“The contingency reserve money that we have put in will kick in if there is a need to. We have set aside R4.3 billion when we put the budget together.”
National Treasury is convinced that SA’s Covid-19 vaccine acquisition strategy won’t feature corruption elements and middlemen unlawfully profiteering from this process – as was seen in the emergency procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) that has become a cadres’ feast.
The process of securing Covid-19 vaccines for frontline health workers and the wider public is being done on an urgent and expedited basis by the government, with normal bidding and procurement processes falling away.
The relaxation of procurement rules during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic to allow national departments, provinces and municipalities to procure PPE and other goods on an emergency basis opened the floodgates for corruption involving politically connected individuals.
(Bloomberg) South Africa’s National Treasury is considering raising taxes as one of several possible mechanisms to fund the vaccination drive against Covid-19, Business Day reported.