ANC must deliver a ‘jobs’ budget not a ‘party’ budget

6 March 2017

The Democratic Alliance will keep a watchful eye for any areas of wasteful expenditure within tomorrow’s KwaZulu-Natal budget address following the shock discovery that provincial departments managed to redirect R68million of service delivery funding towards parties and other high-profile ANC government events.

The information is contained within the virements presented to the Legislature under the Adjustments Estimates.

The findings show that KZN’s department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) – ironically the home of job creation - was the biggest culprit, cutting a massive R45 million from actual job creation programmes and instead allocating the money to partying and events.

The document confirms that funding was removed from the Small Business Growth Enterprise, Integrated Statistical Database and Green Economy Research, Economic Planning, Integrated Economic Development Services and Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

An amount of R47million was then added to fund events including the Woza Durban New Year’s Picnic; the Royalty Soapie Awards, the Durban Fashion Fair and Essence launch, the Vodacom July and others.

This is unacceptable. Clearly, this department under KZN ANC Premier-in-waiting Sihle Zikalala would rather organise parties than do the hard work of supporting and growing small business, implementing real strategies aimed at bringing long-term, sustainable investment to the province.

While the department may claim that these events are good for tourism and therefore jobs it cannot be at the expense of the programmes and structures that are specifically aimed at creating an environment for long-term investment and growth.

Other departments which tell a similar story include;

- KZN’s Office of the Premier with R9,8million in so-called ‘savings’ from the HIV/AIDS and Poverty Eradication         Programmes redirected to the setting up of upmarket new departmental offices.

- The province’s Sport and Recreation department which redirected R11 million from vacant departmental posts to       the South African Local Government Association Games, Beach Soccer, Sport Awards, a Provincial Women's        Symposium, JZ Chess Open, various ‘Outreach programmes’ and an event called Grift Khanna, which the DA can  find no record of.

- KZN Public Works - charged with the maintenance of government infrastructure – coughed up R1million for the   Sukhuma Sakhe Cabinet Day, taken from their unfilled posts funds.

What this expenditure tells the people of KZN is that the ANC has its priorities skewed and that parties and events for politicians take precedence over service delivery.

In contrast, a DA budget would focus on key areas with an overall emphasis on developing the economy, creating sustainable jobs and ensuring effective delivery across all provincial government departments. We would focus on the creation of a capable state that has the political will and required structures to implement the budget.

A DA budget for KZN would;

- Create jobs and economic opportunities through the effective and strategic use of the Department of Economic    Development and Tourism and the Department of Agriculture;

- Invest and plan around infrastructure development to grow our GDP, with the main emphasis on rail and road    access to strategic markets;

- Conduct a comprehensive personnel assessment within the Health and Education departments, ensure accurate      budgeting and identify savings which we would redirect to new infrastructure;

- Realign the Office of the Premier back to its core function of co-ordination;

- Increase in the budget specifically for internal audits;

- Reduce the number of provincial entities to ensure efficient and effective governance and reduce duplicity. These    enormous savings could then be directed into a more productive area in job creation; and

- Re-assess all provincial departments to identify wasteful expenditure and therefore possible savings and possible  realignment.

The people of KZN need an effective and caring government. For too many years they have been misled by an uncaring ANC government, to the point that a ‘lost generation’ has been created – a generation of young people who are being left hopeless of attaining a brighter future.

Now is the time to time to redress past socio economic inequalities. This can only be achieved through radical political transformation and a budget that puts the people of our province first.

Issued by Francois Rodgers, Leader of the DA in the KZN Legislature / DA KZN Spokesperson on Finance, 6 March 2017