The Department of Science and Technology (DST) held onto its cash during the first half of the financial year.
During yesterday's medium-term budget presentation by finance minister Pravin Gordhan, it was revealed the department only spent R1.6 billion of its allocated R4.2 billion over the six-month period.
The department, headed by minister Naledi Pandor, has halved the expenditure over last year during the same period.
While the figures look good on paper, the medium-term budget says several programmes and projects have been delayed, which has kept a large chunk of cash sitting in the department's bank account.
Despite the delays, the DST has also managed to bring in almost all its expected revenue for the year, let alone the period. It is has already collected R949 000 of its expected R1 million revenue.
The income has been boosted by a payment that was expected from the Department of Public Works. The DST also recovered some money for payments to fund overseas courses.
The department was one of two to receive a clean audit on its annual report from the auditor-general.
Funding for projects
Education Network (Sanren).
Pandor has noted that the roll-out deadline for the project has been tight and, while the project has remained within its budget constraints, the department could use a financial boost to help meet deadlines.
In a response to parliamentary questions posed to the DST, Pandor said that, while the project is within budget, meeting the impending deadline has been challenging. This would not affect the deadline, she added.
The minister does not seem to have put in a request for the R80 million the department needs to meet the bandwidth requirements for its radio telescope projects, SKA and MeerKAT, which need broadband access to function effectively.
Last month, the minister revealed the additional bandwidth had not been budgeted for and that the department was still looking for funding. Many expected to see an increase for the additional bandwidth requirement; however, nothing has been included in the medium-term budget.
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