by Risham Maharaj MPL – DA Limpopo Spokesperson on Provincial Treasury
| Date: 10 March 2020 |
| Release: Immediate |
| The 2020/21 budget speech delivered in the Limpopo Legislature today by the MEC for Finance, Seaparo Sekoati, offered more of the same old rhetoric but failed to deliver on measures needed to rescue Limpopo from its bleak outlook.
Services to people in the province continue to be sidelined and held hostage by a Compensation of Employee (COE) bill that is far too large. It currently accounts for about 70% (R50.8 billion) of the provincial budget as opposed to the national average of 60%. MEC Sekoati had signalled his intention in his last budget speech to reduce this wage bill, but he presented more of the same and no plan on how to reduce it. Unemployment continues to cripple Limpopo’s socio-economic development. Limpopo’s unemployment increased by 6.6% – from 16.5% to 23.1% in the space of a year. This while MEC Sekoati mentioned treasury support for internships. With regards to EPWP programmes and private sector participation in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ), he failed to offer government plans to provide sustainable long-term jobs to replace the 77 000 jobs lost over the last year. The budgets allocated to health and education are welcomed, however, in the light of wasteful expenditure, irregular contracts and poor management from both these departments, it remains our concern that the people of Limpopo, who are meant to be the beneficiaries of these budgets, will be left with no tangible improvement. Education department Infrastructure backlogs of over R20 billion, including sanitation at over R 2 billion, will not be addressed or accelerated by the appointment of an advisory professional service unit as outlined by the MEC. More drastic interventions are needed if the department is truly serious about addressing this issue in the foreseeable future. The cash-strapped health department needs more funding to fill critical vacancies such as medical officers, professional nurses and critical care paramedics as a matter of urgency. Shortage of equipment and medicine need to be addressed as well as ensuring that our facilities are equipped to deal with Coronavirus. A choice has to be made on whether to keep throwing money at the Limpopo government’s failing entities or rather to improve essential public services, such as education and healthcare. Continued bailouts to entities like Great North Transport (GNT), Gateway Airport Authority Limited (GAAL), Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) and Limpopo Economic Development Agency (LEDA) have become a noose around the neck of the people of Limpopo. The budget speech failed to address major concerns and make provision for challenges in the agriculture sector which is labour intensive and can be a major job creator. There was no mention for meaningful drought support to subsistence, small to medium scale and commercial farmers. The Finance MEC also failed to mention interventions to address the Foot and Mouth Disease in the province that cost stakeholders huge losses.MEC Sekoati failed to provide a strategy for the turn-around of these ailing entities or measures to stop bailouts and ensure their self-sustainability; instead, RAL received R400 million more to address its over-commitment. We expected MEC Sekoati to do the correct thing to stop the wasteful expenditure of billions of hard-earned taxpayer money on bailouts and outline plans for consequence management for those who are currently or have previously plundered Limpopo government resources. Provincial Treasury has powers in terms of the Constitution and other laws to intervene and curb this malfeasance. The Democratic Alliance will continue to hold this government accountable because we care and believe that our people must get the services they deserve. The people of Limpopo deserve a province where services are delivered, corruption is dealt with, and jobs are created. |
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| Risham Maharaj MPL
DA Limpopo Spokesperson on Provincial Treasury Moses Mariga Researcher |