The MEC, in her tabling of the adjustment budget, showed very clearly that there are too many needs and too little money to be shifted around to rescue the Free State fiscus.

The MEC referred to a pro-poor budget, but to the DA's disappointment, more than R600 Million from Human Settlements will be forfeited due to poor performance. This department plays a vital role in providing for the vulnerable of the province, and the forfeiture of this amount is an indictment against the MEC and her department.

It is also of serious concern that conditional grants of different departments to the tune of R580 Million have been rolled over, especially the R202 Million for Education and R244 million for Community Safety, Roads and Transport. These are two of the departments that can’t afford to forfeit any funds which could be used for educating our youth and repairing the deteriorating road infrastructure, which is the lifeline of our economy in the province.

The DA takes note of the Cost of Living Allocation (COLA) from the National Treasury, which will cover the wage increases of officials for the current financial year as indicated by the department during a lock-up session of the Portfolio Committee on Public Accounts and Finance yesterday morning. This allocation will unfortunately not help to alleviate the suffering of the average Free Stater on the ground, 62% of whom are living in poverty.

Furthermore, the R15 Million reprioritised towards DESTEA to support SMME employment, at first glance, looks like a good initiative, but the DA remains suspicious that this is an attempt to retain support for the governing party due to the inability to encourage any sustainable business growth in the province.

Although the DA welcomes the allocation to the Legislature, the money allocated should not be used for costly debate speeches but rather to strengthen the oversight role of the institution.

The only thing that the MEC has made clear is that she does not have the capacity or political will to lead with efficiency.  The ANC in the province could gain valuable insight from the DA Minister of Finance in the Western Cape on how to draw up a budget which addresses the needs of the people.

 

Issued by David van Vuuren - DA Finance Spokesperson in the Free State Legislature