As municipalities surrender unspent conditional grant funding and departments lose significant resources through mismanagement and maladministration, the Democratic Alliance (DA) is resolved to monitor the implementation of the provincial budget speech tabled today.
The budget speech, delivered by the MEC for Finance, Economic Development & Tourism, Venus Blennies-Magage, was long on promises, but short on action and strong management of the finances allocated for essential services. We note the assurance that Health and Education will be protected from baseline reductions without accompanying guarantees that increased funding will translate into improved service delivery. Both departments have been protected from baseline reductions for the past five years, but we still have patients dying while waiting for ambulances and learners stranded on the side of the road as transport operators are not paid.
In fact, the MEC for Finance admitted that the bad fiscal judgement displayed by the Northern Cape Department of Education has endangered the debt redemption strategy that would have set the Northern Cape free of debt in the next two years. The provincial government had to dip into the limited debt reserves to find R280 million to compensate for poor financial management by this department, which culminated in its decision to stop disbursing essential funds to schools and to withhold payment from SMMEs. There will be another long-term cost to be paid as the MEC for Finance concedes that the Northern Cape will now take longer to become solvent and financially secure.
We have also noted that the Northern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance, Human Settlements & Traditional Affairs decided to withhold payment from service providers even though it argues that it has sufficient funds in its budget. At the same time, municipalities that find themselves without funds to keep their Eskom current accounts up to date are returning millions of rands in unspent conditional grant funding.
If this kind of recklessness is not addressed, both service delivery and SMMEs will continue to suffer. The budget does not mitigate against these key risks at all.
Until we get the basic implementation right and intently drive consequence management, we will continue to have the same problem every year. For the sake of service delivery in the Northern Cape, we must ensure that public funds are spent to public benefit.