Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has explained to the new cabinet how the ministers taking on wholly new departments will get the money to get their departments going.

Each of them will have to prepare budgets based on their planned activities over the next nine months – human resources needed, research back up, and so on. If this can be completed on time, the revised appropriations will be included in the Appropriations Bill which was tabled by Trevor Manuel in February, but which still has to pass through Parliament.

However, cabinet spokesperson Themba Maseko told a media briefing on Thursday that Gordhan stressed that he did not want to rush things. "Treasury is exploring whether technical amendments can be made to the bill," Maseko said. "If not, it will have to wait until the next financial year."

In the interim, he explained, budgets will be allocated to the old departments, and will have to be carved up at departmental level.

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