STATEMENT BY BRETT HERRON, GOOD MEMBER OF THE WESTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL PARLIAMENT AND SECRETARY-GENERAL
16 March 2021
WESTERN CAPE BUDGET SPEECH 2021:
We welcome the provisions made for the fight against Covid-19
There is a disproportionate investment in law enforcement instead of investment in the living conditions which give rise to violent crime and gangsterism.
COVID-19
Our number one priority is to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic and to recover from its devastation in an inclusive way, taking care of the most vulnerable amongst us.
We welcome the provision of R2 billion for the next phase of the fight against the pandemic.
Its clear from the budget speech that there are no real plans to procure a vaccine directly and that the premier’s previous announcements that the Western Cape would “go it alone” was nothing more than political opportunism.
SAFE COMMUNITIES
There is disproportionate investment in law enforcement.
Allocating an additional R750m for 500 learner law enforcement officers will not solve the crime and gangsterism problem.
The investment should instead be made to address the living conditions of those communities – the social, economic and spatial violence that they endure which cannot be fixed by throwing more law enforcement officers at the problem.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The Provincial Recovery Plan – presented in a speech by the Premier in October 2020 – included the establishment of an Infrastructure Agency.
Today’s budget speech, like the Premier’s SOPA address two weeks ago, largely ignored this proposal.
Investment in infrastructure is an important strategy for economic recovery, and job creation, but the budget doesn’t reflect that this was a real commitment.
MEC Maynier spoke vaguely of potential public-private partnerships and “possible borrowing”.
The pattern of making bold announcements which are not properly interrogated and ready for announcement is irresponsible. Promising a massive investment in infrastructure and then vaguely referring to partnerships and possible borrowing will undermine confidence in our government and damage economic growth potential.
“FISCAL FUTURES”
It is quite astounding that after the DA has been in government for 12 years in the WC that there hasn’t been a unit continuously working on financial resilience of the province.
The announcement of a “Fiscal Futures” project and a “Fiscal Transition Support Facility” to ensure that long term financial sustainability of the Western Cape Province is surprising. This work should have been started decades ago and have been ongoing work.
Ends…