GOOD press statement by Shaun August,
GOOD: National Organiser and Member of Western Cape Provincial Parliament
15 March 2022
The WC Budget Speech 2022 was littered with something that has become synonymous with DA governance: empty promises.
The address highlighted strategic spending, which is always welcomed, but if we look back on how much money is returned to Treasury every year, this administration is yet again misleading the people of this province.
Spending is necessary for governments to provide services that people so desperately need. Government’s who fail to spend, run the risk of getting their equitable share grants cut as well as not getting rollovers from national Treasury to provide the services they are supposed to. This is a real consideration in this fiscal climate.
Looking at education, the provincial department returned R891 million back to the fiscus over the past two financial years. These are funds that could have been used to invest in building schools, training and equipping teachers and learner retention, housing or any number of challenges that exist in the province.
As it is housing remains a challenge for this province and South Africa at large, but this did not stop the WC department of human settlements from under-spending its 2019-2020 annual budget by R46 million.
The department of social development severely underspent it’s 2020-2021 and notified the committee that it intends to return R40 million earmarked for contingency planning on wage negotiations should such negotiations not happen.
MEC David Maynier stresses the need for strategic spend, but the provincial executive have a history of not using the funds at their disposal and its the people who suffer the most because of this. We cannot afford or waste another year on intangible solutions that do not speak to the needs of the people.
The fiscal priorities for the year 2022/2023 are focused on (4) key pillars of intervention; namely, jobs, safety, wellbeing and infrastructure. These are themes we have heard before and as much as we acknowledge that these pillars are important aspects for development; this has been the provincial governments policy focus for many years and shocking that year-on-year these sectors remain on the decline.
We need a robust plan, with key objectives that focuses on rebuilding, redirecting and reindustrializing.
The people of the Western Cape are resilient in nature, and they are not asking for a handout or to be decided for; what they need is a government that is willing to work in equal partnership with them, prioritise the needs in their communities and focus on solutions that speaks to their problems. Such a union can only be achieved when the people are directly involved in decision-making. Unfortunately, this administration failed in that regard, and this reheated budget speech is testament to that.
What was a happy and welcome surprise is the substantial increase that social development received and that this department is now considered as part of the focus points for the year.
I have been calling for the prioritization of social development since SOPA and the need to innovate social programs to cut down factors that breeds crime and motivate the people to participate in illegal activities. The budget increase for social development is welcomed as it indicates that this government can be influenced by opposition parties.
This province is rich with the potential to become a sustainable enabler of systematic and impactful change. For this, I implore this government to go back to the drawing board and reconsider how a partnership with the people can be struck to create a catalyst of opportunities and growth in this province and for the rest of South Africa.
Media enquiries:
Shaun August, GOOD: National Organiser & Member of Western Cape Provincial Parliament
Cell: 074 746 7378
Email: shauna@forgood.org.za
Samkelo Mgobozi, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0792315977 (whatsapp)/0829684021 (calls)
Email: samm@forgood.org.za