Stats SA declaration of Gauteng government spending is questionable

17 July 2024

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng notes recent reports where the Stats SA is quoted as saying that Gauteng municipalities spend more per citizen than other provinces.

The question that should be asked is whether that money is well-spent or misspent. It is a good thing to invest in the people you serve. But it’s extremely bad if that money is wasted and is frittered away by maladministration and corruption.

The DA says that the work of Stats SA would have been more useful if it was correlated with other data such as the Auditor-General findings and quality of life surveys. We note that the statistics agency chose to compare the spending in various provinces. Shouldn’t they also have compared service delivery metrics and job statistics between the same provinces? Even better, compare the corruption indicators in each province and then comment on how much money was expended.

These matters are important. Jobs depend on a growing economy. A growing economy is largely built on confidence, which in turn rests on reliable services and sensible government policies.

The DA further notes that the statistics are outdated by two years. One now needs to recall whether services were delivered better then than they are now, given that different parties were in power in 2022. Service delivery has clearly deteriorated in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni since then. Whereas data pertaining to Tshwane is showing that there is improvement there. In this respect, a trend analysis would have been useful. Indeed, more useful than the static picture presented by the agency.

When the Gauteng provincial government tables a budget, they table a Socio-Economic Review and Outlook (SERO) simultaneously. It is produced by National Treasury, relying on data by the same Stats SA. This is supposed to inform budgetary allocations. But there is little reference to SERO when the MEC for Economic Development tries to justify his spending.

The Western Cape provincial government also produces a provincially focussed review (PERO) and even municipal ones (MERO). The Gauteng MEC for Economic Development should do the same. Otherwise, he is just throwing money at the problem.

Finally, there is doubt on the population statistics used by Stats SA. Their calculations are entirely based on population sizes. If Gauteng has been undercounted, then the amount spent by the government on its citizens is less, not more.

Issued by Mike Moriarty, DA Gauteng Shadow MEC for Economic Development, 17 July 2024