Gauteng budget slated as ‘stagnant, reactive’

Civil organisations and opposition parties have described theR179.2bn Gauteng budgettabled on Tuesday as reactive and stagnant, saying it reflects no growth. Economic developmentMEC Lebohang Maile, who delivered the provincial budget speech in the provincial legislature in Johannesburg, said the budget continued to prioritise front-line services but was strained. While only two departments — human settlements and community safety — saw budget cuts, health, education and social development, collectively known as the social sector, received about 83% together from the budget.

The health department received R70.3bn, the education department R70.9bn and social development R5.6bn. Section27’s Matshidiso Lencoasasaid the budget did not reflect growth, with issues like massive overcrowding, the pupil admission crisis and deteriorating health infrastructure. “There is a rising number of people who are coming in, which the MEC acknowledged.

But when you look at the investments in addressing those socioeconomic needs, it’s not reflected in the budget. Investments in infrastructure for health and education are going to go down and remain stagnant, at least over the next three years. And that’s concerning for us,” she said.

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Lencoasa said the government’s plan to partner with the private sector was concerning, as it could not be held accountable. “What they are proposing in response to the infrastructure crisis is through PPPs, so privatising. And that’s obviously a concern for us because, for that to work, you really need a capable state.

If the private side of the PPP falls apart, we still have to pay as taxpayers, but we also cannot hold them accountable for the constitutional obligation to education or health,” she said. Meanwhile, theDA’seconomic development shadow MEC, Rohan Robinson, said the budget allocation was worse than last year’s. “Well, the theme of today’s budget was ‘the audacity to hope’.

And if we carry on on this trajectory, it would indeed be audacious to hope. The problem is that the budget increased by 2%, but taking inflation into account, we are worse off than we were in the previous financial year,” he said. Robinson said the budget’s priorities were not aligned with what was needed.

He referenced the R200m budget cut for human settlements, while the allocation for the provincial legislature increased by R200m. Meanwhile, Maile said they will engage with parties in the coming weeks ahead of the budget vote, while the EFF is speaking about opposing the budget.

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