Johannesburg – Gauteng MEC for Finance and e-Governance Barbara Creecy has prioritised this year’s budget allocation to create job opportunities for young people and cut travel expenses for politicians and government officials.
Creecy tabled the more than R100 billion budget in the Gauteng provincial legislature this morning. Education was given more than R39bn and health got R37bn.
”While our City Region economy remains the largest in the country, and has, even in this bleak climate, created over 340 000 formal and informal jobs, we know 2 million unemployed residents face a daily struggle,” she said.
Creecy said the provincial government would spend more than R40bn over the next three years on infrastructure development.
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"Demographics play an essential role in assessing the achievement of both social and economic goals of a region.
“Youthful urbanisation is now our reality. Seventy percent of the Gauteng population is below the age of 40. According to the UN, 64.3 percent of the South African population lives in urban areas,” she said.
“Gauteng province is the centre of urbanisation, it remains the province of choice and our cities remain the engines of economic growth.”
Creecy said the three metropolitan councils, Joburg, Tshwane and Ekurhuleni, accounted for more than 80 percent of the regional gross domestic product.
”Cities have the highest rate of immigration as a result of the economic opportunities they offer. Gauteng is also a youthful province. More of our young people have post-school qualifications than elsewhere in the country,” she said.
Gauteng accounts for 24 percent of the population in South Africa with an estimated population of more than 13 million.
Given the precarious economic conditions, Creecy said the provincial government would spend less on catering, travel, accommodation and telecommunications. It would concentrate on improving its revenue collection to maintain provincial spending on social services for the poor.
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Other priorities were:
Filling posts for teachers, doctors, nurses and social workers and abolishing administrative posts no longer needed.
Speeding up implementation of the open tender system to restore public confidence in state procurement.
Improving project management to strengthen clean government and financial controls.
Off budget financing of infrastructure, housing, the township economy and youth development.
”Over the medium term, our equitable share will be cut by R2.9bn - our contribution to Minister Gordhan’s R25bn budget cut.”
She said only 5 percent of revenue came from the provincial government's own sources, but this played a significant role in funding key programmes.
Most of the revenue is collected from vehicle licences, gambling taxes, patient fees and interest on Treasury investments.
She said the provincial government was considering issuing new casino licences to boost revenue.
”We are aware of the challenges being experienced by the Department of Health in collecting revenue due to it from the Road Accident Fund. We are engaging with the National Treasury to assist us in this regard,” she added.
THE STAR