R725.5m committed to Covid-19-related expenditure in Western Cape - Maynier

Western Cape MEC of Finance and Economic Opportunities David Maynier outlined the provincial government’s priority spending plan for the financial year. Armand Hough African News Agency (ANA)

Western Cape MEC of Finance and Economic Opportunities David Maynier outlined the provincial government’s priority spending plan for the financial year. Armand Hough African News Agency (ANA)

Published May 10, 2020

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CAPE TOWN - The Western Cape provincial treasury is committed to supporting a "whole-of-government" response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, finance and economic opportunities MEC David Maynier said on Sunday.

"The Covid-19 pandemic facing South Africa requires a whole-of-government and whole-of-society response," he said in a statement.

"That is why the provincial treasury, working together with all departments in the Western Cape government, is working hard to support a full-scale response to Covid-19," he said.

In the immediate term, the provincial treasury had taken a number of steps to support key departments, such as health, social development, and public works and transport, with streamlined decision-making around supply chain matters to ensure that critical procurement decisions were made as fast as possible, while ensuring full compliance under the emergency procurement protocols put in place by the National Treasury.

"We are also engaging with National Treasury on a weekly basis, both in technical committees and with [Finance] Minister Tito Mboweni, to ensure that our actions are aligned with national government’s response," Maynier said.

To date, R725.5 million had been committed to Covid-19-related expenditure across the Western Cape government. This included:

- R53 million in additional funds to the social development and education departments for an initial humanitarian response, which had included the provision on 50,000 food parcels; the re-initiation of school feeding schemes; and the delivery of 10 000 cooked meals per day for one month;

- R482.1 million by the health department for personal protective equipment, laboratory tests, hospital beds, and ventilators; and

- R16.2 million by the local government department in the form of a local government support grant to strengthen and support the current humanitarian initiatives within municipalities.

"In addition to this, we are working across government to identify and re-prioritise all non-essential expenditure towards our immediate expenditure needs in the departments of health and social development," he said.

"We are committed to ensuring that our healthcare workers and other frontline staff across the Western Cape receive adequate personal protective equipment (PPE). We are also working to ensure that our healthcare system is provided with the necessary funding to support a scale up of acute and ICU bed facilities, as well as quarantine and isolation facilities, in support of the overall provincial health strategy."

Defeating the Covid-19 pandemic would require continued efforts by all role players, and the provincial treasury would ensure that its fiscal response was aligned to support such efforts in every way possible, Maynier said. 

African News Agency (ANA)

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