The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Limpopo notes today’s budget speech by the MEC for Finance, Seaparo Sekoati, in the Limpopo Provincial Legislature.
Besides that the speech was filled with more mention of the same expectations from previous speeches, such as socio-economic recovery as well as key drivers that would provide employment opportunities and economic growth, it has now been proven time and time again that this government cannot put their money – or this budget – where their mouth is and change this sinking ship around.
The budget does not even come close to address the high levels of unemployment or challenges of inequality in Limpopo. We need to address the root causes affecting the efficient use of resources first and to hold officials accountable.
It is both disappointing and baffling that Education (R36.445 billion) and Health (R22.726 billion) in the province will receive 79.7% of the province’s budget. Both these departments are on the brink of collapse! This is exemplified by the poor matric results last year and the poor state of school sanitation, school and healthcare infrastructure.
The resources being allocated to the Education and Health departments need to be closely monitored through sound internal controls and wisely used to ensure the province receives quality services and value for the investment into these sectors. The ANC can rest assured that the DA will monitor their every step of the way so that money does not get syphoned off and land in the pockets of the connected few.
Another baffling entity is that of Road Agency Limpopo (RAL) that will be allocated R1.540 billion despite its consistent failures in the previous financial years. RAL incurred R734 million irregular expenditure in the 2020-21 financial year and had a further R4 billion irregular expenditure awaiting condonement largely due to failure to follow Supply Chain Management processes, payments on expired contracts and spending funds on projects that were not budgeted for.
It remains concerning that the compensation of employees continues to account for 68.6% of the total budget, this represents an increase from 68.1% of the budget in the previous financial year. This remains quite high and leaves very little resources for the provincial government to actually provide services to the people of Limpopo.
Sekoati’s budget speech also failed to address plans or strategies to address the ongoing issues of litigation claims against government departments. The Department of Health alone has medico-legal claims amounting to R14 billion. He also did not make mention of any budgeted funds should departments lose any of these claims.
The large amounts of accruals in government departments and the serious issue of the lack of consequence management for poor financial performance and governance within provincial departments as well as municipalities also remains a problem in the province.
The DA’s consistent calls has been heeded by the MEC’s commitment to monitor spending and revenue collection and strengthen the oversight over provincial departments and provincial public entities.
It seems like the MEC is out of touch with what is happening in his province. Year after year, he keeps scooping up water from the sinking ship, never to realise where to plug the holes. Throwing money at the same problem during every budget speech certainly won’t help when we sit with an incapable government like this.
The DA will be closely monitoring how this budget will be implemented and spent by all government departments and entities.