Cape Town - Health and education will receive the lion’s share of the spend in the Western Cape’s total budget expenditure of R67.14 billion in what Finance MEC Ivan Meyer called a “consolidation for maximum citizen impact”.
The Western Cape government would spend R24.757bn (37%) of its budget on health and R23.669bn (35%) on education.
Transport and public works was allocated R8.117bn while social development and human settlements were allocated R2.46bn each.
Education outcomes also get an additional R1.214 billion to accommodate increased service load pressure and R1.132 billion invested early childhood development and partial care by the department of social development.
Meyer said safety at schools was of paramount importance, with the provincial education department having set aside R112.5million for the installation of secure fencing, restricted electronic access, and monitored alarm systems
The needs of female learners was also taken into consideration with R63.7m allocated towards piloting a sanitary dignity project.
“Nothing is more important than creating growth and jobs, to improve education outcomes and opportunities for youth development.
"You cannot grow an economy without people who are not healthy and therefore the biggest slice of the budget goes into health to tackle social ills. Youth unemployment is a matter of concern for the province as 63.6% of the unemployed were between the ages of 15 and 34 years,” Meyer said.
The Department of Transport and Public Works will receive an additional R255m to specifically address transport requirements for rail enforcement.
“The R255m is a real worthwhile investment because we have already seen significant arrests of people who destabilise our public rail network. We have seen last year, daily, the rail system nearly collapsing and (we are) very proud of the (Rail Enforcement Unit) partnership between the City of Cape Town and Prasa and the Western Cape government because we have seen significant improvements in safety on our public rail system.”
Addressing the ongoing water crisis, Meyer pointed out that an additional R25m - apart from the R38.996m allocated - would be used to tackle the severe drought conditions in Beaufort West for the exploration of new well fields in the central Karoo.
Meyer conceded that crime had a negative impact on social and economic performance and although total crime incidents in the Western Cape had declined, violent crimes such as murder had increased while drug-related crimes continued to be a prominent and escalating category in the province.
ANC Western Cape finance spokesperson Carol Beerwinkel slammed the budget, saying the DA would need to win the May 8 elections outright or have to enter into an alliance to implement the budget.
“The budget tabled contradicts what the reality is. They speak about good governance while the auditor-general indicated 91% irregular spending in health, economic and social development.
“The R30m set aside as to reward municipality excellence is unnecessary because workers are being rewarded for what they are supposed to do and the money could be well spent where it is needed,” said Beerwinkel.
She also criticised Meyer for saying the budget had taken public participation into account as there was no community consultation.
“The DA must stop boasting on what they intend to achieve because they are piggybacking on the national government. The national government allocates 94% to the province for specific goals national wants to achieve which means the Western Cape only uses 4% of their own revenue,” Beerwinkel explained.