There is hope for the financial situation in the KwaZulu-Natal government as the provincial budget presented yesterday shows stability.
The Minister of Finance in KwaZulu-Natal, Mr. Francois Rodgers, said that the stability shown in the budget gives him hope that the province will wake up and take charge financially.
Rodgers presented the provincial budget of R168 billion, in the Legislative Assembly yesterday.
“This budget shows stability after confusion, after facing problems and after difficult times. We confirm that our province is indeed recovering financially.”
Rodgers said that the budget shows growth as the Ministry had previously thought that this year’s budget would be R139 billion.
He said that the reason why this year’s budget has increased so much is that the province received a grant of R6.9 billion from the national government.
“The virtual charter will reduce the financial burden on the Ministry of Education and Health that is being created, especially the reduction of money that has been happening.”
Rodgers said that conditional grants received by KwaZulu-Natal government departments will increase by R3.9 billion over the next three years.
“What encourages us, we see that the money we collect will exceed R220.6 million by the end of the year. This is because it is expected to collect more money than usual through vehicle licenses in the Department of Transport, as well as the money returned by SARS to the Department of Education.”
The opposition party, MKP, criticized the budget presented by Rodgers.
MKP member, Mr. Simphiwe Moyo, said Rodgers’ budget is misleading people.
“They pretend that everything is going well. They want it to appear that the cooperative government is working. The truth is that people are not working and they are dying of hunger. He didn’t say anything about that. He didn’t talk about things that affect people.”
The DA’s spokesperson for Finance in the Legislature, Mr. Tim Brauteseth, said that Rodgers’ efforts to promote good money management have begun to bear fruit.
“This budget focuses mainly on departments that take care of people’s needs. Students, teachers, social workers and nurses will benefit a lot.”
How are the departments assigned?
The Department of Education received the largest share of the budget as it was allocated R71.1 billion.
The Ministry of Health was allocated R60.2 billion, while the Ministry of Transport was allocated R13.9 billion.
The Department of Community Development was allocated R3.8 billion, the Department of Economic Development was allocated R3.7 billion, and the Department of Human Settlements was allocated R3.2 billion.
The Ministry of Agriculture has been allocated R2.8 billion, the Ministry of Public Works has been allocated R2.4 billion, and the Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Indigenous Affairs has been allocated R2 billion.
The Department of Sports was allocated R1.6 billion, the Legislature was allocated R894.4 million, the Prime Minister’s Office was allocated R856.2 million, and the Department of Public Security was allocated R287.3 million.
