Budget 2017: Corruption over Jobs, as EPWP funds slashed

7 March 2017

This year’s Provincial Budget as announced by MEC Wendy Nelson today, has provided absolutely no plan to grow our economy and create jobs. This budget will mean nothing to the people of North West until the ANC takes an active stand against corruption in their midst.

The DA is deeply disappointed for the hundreds of thousands of unemployed people in our province, who have been provided no hope today by MEC Nelson. The MEC failed to cancel Supra’s new luxury car, the enormous Jacob Zuma statue, or the luxury private jet the Premier wants – and instead took money away from job creation.

The decline in the budget for the Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP) integrated grant, from R51 million in 2016/2017 to only R14.4 million in 2017/2018 year, is a devastating blow to temporary job creation in our province.

This is only one of many examples in this budget where allocations decreased - indicating that the North West Provincial Government does not have the capacity to manage and administrate budgets.

Unauthorised, irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure is an epidemic in our province, and the MEC who should have plugged these leaks, today ignored them entirely. Where were her plans to stop the looting? They simply do not exist.

The Departments of Health and Education are in ICU. While R35.5 million allocated for science and maths at selected schools is welcome, a contractor who is currently supposed to build laboratories at a cost of R350 million has just applied for liquidation. This poor project management, and tender negligence shows up the failures to protect public money by the ANC.

While Nelson seems quite content with the R265 million infrastructure grant in the budget, she was silent about the severe underspending of previous years’ budgets. If the ANC government cannot spend its budget, they remain numbers on paper, and not deliverables that people can use. We cannot afford another year of allocating these funds to vanity projects, and simply wasting millions on unfinished projects.

In a poor, rural province with not enough opportunities for our young people, the MEC mentioned nothing about broad-band Wi-Fi access. In 2017, this is imply inexcusable. The MEC is living under a rock if she doesn’t appreciate the need for better connectivity and free-WiFi in our province

This can help school learners in their education, but also upcoming and potential entrepreneurs to create platforms for their business.

This budget brings little hope to the 450 000 poor households or 40,9% unemployed people.

There are nearly R3 billion planned for roads over the next three financial years. The sorry fact is that due to irregular tender procedures and corruption our roads are worse off year by year. As long as we do not have proper roads the much talked about Agriparks and rural development will remain a pipe-dream.

As long as corruption is not tackled head on, we will see little significance change. Cadres and friends are simply more important than ethical, competent and proper management.

Nelson brought little hope to our lost generation of young residents who are out of education, out of work and without skills. She failed to deliver plans for much needed sustainable growth.

She failed to bring proper plans to assist the construction sector that is hindered by issues like building plans that are hopelessly delayed by red-tape and poor performance of officials. We plead for proper oversight by both the Department of Finance and Culture, Arts and Traditional Affairs – to ensure red-tape is cut in practice, not just in theory.

Communities are severely affected by the dilapidated infrastructure in North West, combined with poor roads and overall maintenance – which has a negative impact on investment and thus prohibiting the creation of much-needed employment.

The NWPG must vigorously deal with the wastage of billions of rand by the North West Provincial Administration as outlined in the 2015 / 2016 audit outcomes. And the DA will push for all Audit Reports to be made public this year, so that the full truth of the waste of public money is exposed.

Issued by Joe McGluwa, DA North West Leader, 7 March 2017