Limpopo Gambling Board Annual Report

million, which indicates an increase of R 15 million. The increase in the budget is attributed to the additional funding that was allocated to the Entity during the budget adjustment, after an approval was granted for the surplus revenue retention from the 20/21 financial year. Although the Entity was affected by the pandemic, it was still able to collect levies and other operational income. The collection for the current financial year (R 140 567 016) was higher than that of the previous financial year (R 90 210 868). Interest received for the year was R 553 919. The Entity had to decrease its anticipated collection in relation to revenue to cater for the impact of the pandemic and the lockdown on the industry. The Entity’s total expenditure amounted to R 63 030 205 which accounted for 83% of the adjusted grant of R 75 651 490. Only 90 % of the employee cost was spent during the financial year. There were delays in finalising recruitment processes for some positions that the Entity had anticipated to complete before the financial year end. The Entity was not able to spend 17% of its 2021/22 budget. The spending in the current year was lower than originally estimated, when compared to the previous financial year where 99% of the allocated grant was spent. The Entity had budget challenges in the beginning of the financial year and had thereafter applied for a revenue retention which was only approved at the end of November 2021. Prior to this, the Entity has had to use the allocated funding sparingly to ensure that the regulated mandate was not affected, and that service delivery and contractual obligations were covered. The budgets in the Province were cut for the first time in 2020 and these cuts were carried through to the 2021 financial year. The Provincial Treasury had set the funding aside for COVID-19, which meant that the institutions in the Province were allocated a reduced budget. This greatly affected the spending patterns in the Province and the Limpopo Gambling Board was not immune to this. When the spending eventually improved in the 4th quarter of the financial year, there was a Constitutional court judgement that saw the National Treasury issue a halt of the procurement of goods and services in excess of R 30 000 which would have required institutions to apply the prequalifying criteria as set out in the PPPFA. This too, had contributed to the under-spending of the Entity, as some of the projects and purchases that relate to the core Business Units had to be halted. Spending Trends of the Public Entity

The Entity, however, has a positive outlook on the financial year ahead and is positive that spending patterns will improve.

Capacity Constraints and Challenges facing the Public Entity

The Entity has 73 posts on the organisational structure, of which 59 of them are filled. The Entity managed to fill seven (7) posts during the financial year. The 7 positions referred to herewith relates to 1 post in the Human Resource Management Unit and 6 positions in the Compliance Business Unit. This meant that the Entity was able to increase capacity in one of its core Business Units and as at the end of the 2021/22 financial year, this Business Unit was fully capacitated. Of the 7 new employees appointed in the Entity, 6 of those positions were filled by the Entity’s former interns. The Entity had appointed an acting CFO from 2020 due to the resignation of the former CFO. The post of the CFO was advertised in December of 2021,

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