STATEMENT BY BRETT HERRON, GOOD MEMBER OF THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT AND SECRETARY-GENERAL
10 March 2020
WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL BUDGET: THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL, BUT THE DETAIL IS ABSENT
Provincial MEC promised a budget for everyone in his “Budget for You” speech but the details are scant.
The Western Cape Provincial MEC for Finance promised a “budget for you”.
The MEC made bold promises that this budget is for everyone listing a range of “you” which included crime victims, jobseekers, businesses, homeless and aspirant young people.
The budget speech lacked detail and we all know that the devil is in the detail.
Once we have analysed the details we will know whether these bold promises are met.
I expect that many of “you” will be left out.
I welcome the focus on safety, housing, infrastructure and economic growth. I am concerned that “Innovative Government” is elevated to a key focus of the government when the state of the province’s education is in need of much more attention.
Innovation is a culture that can be embedded through leadership and management. Using email notices and electronic calendars rather than hand-delivered hard copy paper notices would be a great start for the Western Cape government.
Fixing our education system, so that no child is denied access to a school, must be a provincial priority. Following their own cuts to teacher salary budgets a few months ago, we enter this next budget cycle with a shortage of schools and teachers. This is a crisis for the future of our province and a failure of this government to meet its constitutional obligations.
Investing in growing our economy is welcome. We must be fighting day and night to create sustainable jobs that can employ those who start everyday without one.
I welcome the acknowledgment that spatial transformation requires improved mobility and access to better located housing. But the DA has a pathetic track-record of tackling spatial transformation. They are entering their 12th year in provincial government without having delivered a single inner city housing opportunity.
The R7.4 billion allocated to housing will not achieve spatial transformation if the Human Settlements department continues to prioritise the development of large scale RDP (BNG) housing projects on urban peripheries.
Last year Premier Winde pointed to Forest Village as evidence of his commitment to spatial justice. In my experience, this is a true testament to the DA’s commitment to spatial transformation – because it has none. Forest Village is a new township of thousands of low income homes on the very outer edge of Cape Town, further away that even the townships that the National Party created.
To achieve spatial transformation this provincial government will have to identify well-located public land that can be used for the purposes of integrated higher density housing. There is no sign that this government has the appetite to do this.
Overall the speech touched on many of the province’s urgent needs. The MEC however didn’t provide enough detail to discern whether the “budget for you” will achieve the objectives and vision.
The big omission is the province’s education crisis.
Ends.