Tomorrow, the Gauteng MEC for Finance, Lebogang Maile, will have a tough balancing act when presenting the Adjustment Budget for the 2024/2025 financial year, because he will have to find ways to fund the delivery of quality services with reduced funding.
Because the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) has taken on the responsibility of paying a portion of the e-Toll debt, it raises serious questions about compromises elsewhere, giving it less to allocate to the delivery of services and the needs of the residents of Gauteng.
Taking on the e-Toll debt was a financial commitment they should not have agreed to as the upgrading of the province’s freeways falls under is the mandate of the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL). While the provincial government has indicated that a hybrid approach will be taken to settle this debt, the exact details of where all the funding to pay for this debt will come from remain sketchy.
In addition, Premier Panyaza Lesufi has unveiled bold plans to establish two new provincial state-owned entities, the provincial state-owned bank and the provincial pharmaceutical company. Despite numerous requests for the feasibility studies to be made public, the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) pleas have fallen on deaf ears. In addition, the GPG has failed to provide us with the exact cost of the two new proposed entities.
The DA maintains that existing provincial state entities are capable of doing the work that these new two entities are meant to do. So far, R15,3 million has been spent to complete the feasibility studies, but the cost of setting up the entities will be a lot more.
Furthermore, corruption in this province remains rife, while Premier Lesufi hasrefuses to make the 177 forensic reports public and has denied our Promotion of Access to Information application (PAIA). Leaked documents have shown that hundreds of millions of rands of public money have been stolen in cases under investigation.
To grow the economy and lift investor confidence, the GPG, under the leadership of Premier Lesufi, must take decisive steps to root out corruption and clamp down on crime in the province. The South African Police Service (SAPS) must also be given the necessary resources needed to clamp down on crime and proactive steps to prevent crime.
Lifestyle audits must also be made public immediately. In doing so, investor confidence will be boosted, and long-term job opportunities will be unlocked.
A DA-led Gauteng provincial government would make public all forensic reports into alleged corruption to ensure accountability.
Furthermore, a DA-led Gauteng provincial government would use all the mechanisms available to recoup money that has been lost due to corrupt activities to improve service delivery in the province.