Gauteng’s adjustment budget displays under-expenditure and poor performance, hampering service delivery

The mid-term adjustment budget delivered by Gauteng MEC for Finance, Jacob Mamabolo is an admission that government departments are struggling to spend their budget in a manner that will provide basic service delivery to all our residents.

Today, MEC Mamabolo announced that there will be a rollover of R1.6 billion. The Gauteng Department of Health has the biggest rollover of over R1.1 billion. This is very worrying as currently there is a huge underspending on infrastructure in the province.

For the remainder of the current government’s term the following key priorities have been identified:

• Economic recovery and reconstruction
• Strengthening the battle against crime, corruption, vandalism and overcoming lawlessness
• Changing the living conditions in townships, informal settlements, and hostels
• Prioritisation of the health and wellness of people
• Strengthening the capacity of the state

Infrastructure is one of the key drivers of the economy and if more is not done by the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) the current government facilities will not be able to cater to the needs of our residents, as the population in the province is growing on a daily basis.

MEC Mamabolo claims that this province has state-of-the-art infrastructure including roads, airports, rails, and premium digital connectivity. Yet when our motorists use our roads, they are faced with numerous potholes and a rail system that is not always operational.

Furthermore, there are plans in place to seek alternative funding for the e-Tolls debt and establish a state-owned bank and a state-owned pharmaceutical company. This will take time and will not be completed before the next general elections which are to be held in 2024.

The proposed state-owned bank appears to be a duplication of the work that the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) is supposed to do. It is high time that this entity starts to deliver on its mandate to assist small businesses, particularly those operating in the townships.

In order to change the living conditions in hostels, townships and informal settlements, the dysfunctional Department of Human Settlements will need to get their act together as a matter of urgency.

If the GPG is committed to building a capable state in this province under the leadership of Premier Lesufi and MEC Mamabolo, the DA proposes the following solutions:
• Ensure that consequence management takes place where budgets are not spent within the allocated time frame
• Conduct an audit of all officials in the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development (GDID) to make sure they have the necessary skills needed to implement infrastructure projects
• Audit all entities and ensure that they are delivering on their mandate instead of creating new entities
• Reduce the amount of money spent on consultants by government departments
• Cut the red tape so that more small businesses are able to do business with the government

Gauteng residents deserve a government that is capable of delivering basic services to all, while still ensuring that there is value for money.

Gauteng Adjustment Budget: poor and vulnerable sacrificed for maladministration

Please click here for the DA’s reaction by Mike Moriarty MPL, DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Finance on the Gauteng adjustment budget tabled today at the Gauteng Provincial Legislature

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng notes today’s Adjustment Budget delivered by the MEC for Finance, Nomuntu Nkomo-Ralehoko in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature (GPL).

Payments to those impacted by Life Esidimeni and investment into services for the poorest of the poor have been sacrificed to cater for the maladministration of the province.

The budget for Health and Housing has increased amounting to nearly R900 million and was largely funded by the underspending of R733 million in other departments.

The amounts surrendered by the departments include:

  • R155 million that should have been spent on persons impacted by Life Esidimeni;
  • R127 million that should have been provided by Social Development;
  • R250 million that should have been spent on schools; and
  • R97 million was surrendered that should have been used to build libraries, the Women’s Living Heritage Monument and the Provincial Archives

All this money was surrendered because of rollovers of accruals that include goods consumed last year but only paid for this year. This includes:

  • R300 million in Health
  • R80 million in Housing
  • R188 million in Community Services

In addition, the GPG has had to find R54 million to cover salary increases not budgeted for.

In our opinion this represents financial mismanagement. In short, this budget penalises the poor and the vulnerable to cover incompetence, mismanagement and probably corruption.

Gauteng Adjustment Budget Covers Up Government Failures

The Gauteng medium term budget, instead of offering real solutions to the province’s unemployment and economic growth crisis, is an exercise to cover up government’s programme implementation failures.

This adjustment budget acknowledges the tough economic times, slow provincial growth rate and the scourge of unemployment, but the closest finance MEC Barbara Creecy came to addressing the jobs crisis was to mention that South Africa could generate up to 460 000 jobs by 2030.

Not one skills development or job creation programme was mentioned or even hinted at, despite the MEC earmarking R50 million to bid for and host events of an indeterminate nature.

MEC Barbara Creecy waxed lyrical about the #FeesMustFall movement expressing her solidarity with students and lauding government’s efforts to bring some form of relief.

Yet, she made no mention to expand provincial bursary programmes, or to assist recently graduated government bursary beneficiaries to gain employment.

While the DA welcomes the additional R1.6 billon to school feeding programmes and learner support materials, more than half of those funds were initially earmarked to build severely needed schools – but more than R350 million was given to the struggling Department of Infrastructure Development to pay its debts to municipalities.

MEC Creecy has also been forced to pay for government’s refusal to scrap the widely rejected e-toll system. The so-called subsidy of R123 million is nothing more than government having to honour its agreement with ETC and to keep the company afloat in the wake of widespread public refusal to pay.

A major concern remains government’s spiralling wage bill, which is approaching R50 billion a year – a direct result of the ANC’s jobs-for-pals policies.

A DA government would allocate funds in a manner that would stimulate the economy, create jobs and rapidly improve service delivery.

It will do so by trimming down government departments into a lean, mean delivery machine and by spending funds on necessary programmes, and not on nice-to-haves.

 

Media enquiries:

Adriana Randall MPL

DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Finance

060 556 4342

 

Ashor Sarupen MPL

DA Gauteng Spokesperson on Finance

060 558 8303

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