GOOD Speech by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament
07 April 2025
*Note to editor: This speech was delivered by GOOD Secretary-General & Member of the Western Cape Parliament Brett Herron during today’s debate on the Western Cape Infrastructure Budget (Vote 10)
Budgets are political statements, they reveal priorities, values, and who truly benefits from public spending. The Western Cape’s R9.827 billion infrastructure budget for 2025/2026 should be a catalyst for transformation. Yet, it feels more like a betrayal of those who need it most.
R2.243 billion is allocated for Human Settlements Infrastructure for 2025/2026 financial year but the track-record of this government’s housing delivery is shocking and it is the cause of the department losing grant funding – R500 million in 2023 and now R300 million in 2024.
Breaking New Ground (BNG) housing has collapsed from 8038 in 2019, 6247 in 2020, 6191 in 2021, 5380 in 2022 and 4998 in 2023. That is across the entire province!
We welcome the Minister’s announcement of housing projects in the inner-city.
But, this government is a government of announcements. The Minister is also aware that these sites were identified and announced for development over a decade ago.
And now they are announced again as if they’re something new.
The announcements should not follow the Mayor of Cape Town’s pattern. That is announcing the release of public land for housing development – yet not a single housing development has commenced on any site announced. Also, the Minister failed to say what portion of these developments would accommodate social and affordable housing residents.
The transport infrastructure budget stands at R4.630 billion. Yet, investment continuously favours well-developed urban centres while historically underserved areas are left waiting for long-overdue road upgrades. Instead of addressing these failures, the Department of Infrastructure has a reducing budget over the MTEF.
Which becomes more and more suspicious when we see an increase in the reliance on private investments for public infrastructure.
A R200 billion ‘pipeline of bankable projects’ sounds fantastic, but what does that mean for our taxpayers. Private investors expect returns on their investments, which could lead to creeping privatization, user fees for essential services, and reduced public accountability. Meaning ordinary people will ultimately bear the burden.
We already hear of tender corruption with the rampant “construction mafia”. Public funds meant to uplift communities are being siphoned off by corruption and inefficiency.
We cannot believe that private investment will be any different.
Development should not be dictated by privilege but by need. Until these principles guide our spending, billions will continue to be allocated without meaningful change.
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