CAPE TOWN - During his provincial budget speech on Monday, Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier was met with placards from the benches of the opposition calling for among others, the allocation of R150 million for the Khayelitsha District hospital and the establishment of an Environmental Commissioner.
Maynier on Monday announced the province will over the medium term spend R19.6 billion on jobs, R4.4 billion on safety and R30.3 billion on infrastructure.
An additional R6.2 billion has been allocated over the medium term to education; an additional R2.4 billion to healthcare and an additional R136 million on social development.
The province has also allocated R777 million for the health platform, which will be spent on the fight against Covid-19; allocated R198 million for the rollout of vaccinations, which will be spent on rolling out of vaccinations.
“We are in a better fiscal position now, but there is a question about how long it will last because there are very serious downside risks to the economic outlook in South Africa.
“We have stagnant economic growth, high inflation, huge fiscal deficits, staggering national debt, and massive debt service costs in South Africa.
“To compound the problem, the war in Ukraine, will push up inflation, which will put further pressure on households and businesses, which are already under pressure, in South Africa,” Maynier said.
The province said it will spend R3.2 billion on supporting early childhood development and strong foundations; spend R3.6 billion on wellbeing by maintaining reasonable teacher:learner ratios and promoting blended learning; and R9.5 billion on providing food relief, supporting the homeless, and providing more social housing and more shelters for victims of gender-based violence.
“Let me end, by saying that today, I am also proud to be a member of this provincial executive because this is also the only provincial executive in our country to have the courage to take a stand in the face of a terrible war of aggression in support of the people of Ukraine,” he added.
ANC MPL Cameron Dugmore said their members called a number of points of order, mainly around the alleged lack of consultation on the budget, saying members of the public were informed by advertisement on Friday that they could make submissions by Monday.
He said placards were held up calling for particular input into the budget, including R150 Million for the Khayelitsha District hospital, the clear allocation of budget for the old GF Jooste hospital and a number of other issues related to the taxi industry, small traders, economic development and land for housing.
“These placards were shown during the session to highlight major concerns that the ANC caucus has had and particular proposals for the budget.”
Other points of order related to what the opposition said was the ongoing failure by Premier Alan Winde to make available a full copy of the Albert Fritz investigation report.
“Members of the relevant standing committee, still have not received full copies, we have requested those full copies and that the names of the victims be removed,” Dugmore said.
Cape Times