STATEMENT BY BRETT HERRON, GOOD MEMBER OF THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT AND SECRETARY GENERAL
23 JULY 2020
WESTERN CAPE ADJUSTMENT BUDGET: TIME TO GO BACK TO ZERO AND START AGAIN
WE WELCOME THE CORRECTION OF EARLIER ERRORS AND THE COMMITMENT TO PPE PROCUREMENT SURVEILLANCE
The massive cuts in equitable share and conditional grants to the Province as a result of a constrained national fiscus calls for the Province to go back to the drawing board and implement zero-based budgeting.
As Finance MEC, David Maynier, and our Provincial Treasury contemplate extracting savings from existing budgets in a three phased budgeting process to fund beating the pandemic and keep service delivery on track, Phase 1 of that process should be going right back to zero and starting from that base. This will ensure that provincial priorities are transparent and funded.
In March I raised my concerns that the 2020/21 budget MEC Maynier tabled, just as we were becoming aware of the health pandemic we would be facing, did not address the Covid-19 crisis.
As we began our nationwide lockdown 4 months ago, the MEC approved a budget that increased the allocation to the provincial health department by only 6%, but he increased the budget of his own department by more than 15% and increased the WESGRO budget by more than 30%.
I am pleased that the adjustments proposed today demonstrate an attempt to correct this.
Government must allocate budget to priority expenses – those that really save lives.
PPE for teachers, social workers, nurses and doctors is much more important than multi-million Rand salaries and increases for DA cadres that the MEC approved just months ago.
Given the huge losses being expected globally with the recession now upon us, I was expecting the MEC to be announcing salary cuts, as his party is calling for in other provinces.
He mentioned his department has reallocated money that could not be spent – being those funds allocated for consultants, catering and travel – to the Covid-19 expenses, but he said nothing about reducing salaries or bonuses.
His promise to limit the salaries and bonuses of employees in state entities is hollow. It was the more than 30% increase he gave to WESGRO just 4 months ago that enabled the gross salary and bonus increases there to be funded.
I welcome the increased allocations to the department of health, education and social development.
I also welcome the commitment to PPE procurement surveillance and the commitment to publish a Procurement Disclosure Report to ensure transparency around the procurement of PPE.
Ends…