Hounourable Speaker

Honourable Members

Heads of Departments

Chief Financial Officers

Head of Provincial Treasury and Officials Present

Business, Academic, Religious and Community Leaders

Members of the Media

Ladies and Gentlemen

Comrades and Friends

INTRODUCTION

We present this budget at a time when a positive mood is sweeping through our beautiful province. That mood is induced by the 6th administration’s visible energy and vigour in articulating a coherent plan for inclusive economic growth and social transformation, fighting corruption and accelerating service delivery.

Buoyed by this, as the Provincial Treasury, an institution historically tasked with being the guardians of the public purse, we are determined to play our part as a contributor to an environment conducive to investments and job creation.

More than ever as the provincial government we are determined to continue on our path of fiscal discipline and fiscal consolidation. For the past eight years this province has not deviated from its budget by more than 1% and this will continue. There is no place in our plan of action for fraud and corruption and neither is there room for failure.

Human Rights activist and Nobel Prize laureate, Rigoberta Menchú, reminds us that “Without strong watchdog institutions, impunity becomes the very foundation upon which systems of corruption are built. And if impunity is not demolished, all efforts to bring an end to corruption are in vain.”  

We are cognisant that as the Provincial Government we have to lead by example because what we do impacts directly the livelihoods of our people. As we tackle the challenges facing us we will be creative but not reckless, we will be imaginative but not overzealous, we will be ambitious but remain realistic.

Our efforts as Provincial Treasury must go beyond a bookkeeping exercise. We will focus substantially on the principle of value for money. We will want to dig deeper to look at the impact in society of the money we spend and the alignment with our priority objectives.

This budget is of course a revival of the 2019/2020 MTEF Appropriation Bill which was tabled by my predecessor on the 7th of March 2019. I will explain the precise legal framework around this revival later on. It is however new information for almost half of this House who are new members.

In reviving this Appropriation Bill we are aware of the urgency with which our people want things to be done but also cognisant of the internal and external factors that limit us.

It is in times of difficulty like this that the true character of a nation and of its leaders get tested. Unfortunately adversity also tends to breed populism whereby false Messiahs who go around promising quick-fixes to complex problems. We will not go that route. Our people have placed their trust in us, we dare not play with their emotions.

As President Ramaphosa warned in his response to the SONA debate that while the current state of affairs requires greater urgency and focus, there are no quick fixes.

In President Ramaphosa’s words “Now is the time to focus on implementation. It is time to make choices. Some of these choices may be difficult and some may not please everyone… at a time when public finances are limited, we will not be able to do everything at one time.”

In his State of the Province Address Premier Sihle Zikalala made a frank assessment of the many challenges facing KwaZulu-Natal. These include high levels of unemployment, unbearable cost of living for the employed, poor state of local government and growing social ills such as drug abuse and violence in schools.

Honourable Premier we are encouraged by your pronouncement during the State of the Province Address that more attention will be given to all municipalities in the province especially those that are struggling.

Full Speech Attached