Cape Town - Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier on Monday unveiled his budget for the Western Cape, allocating R77.3 billion for the 2022/23 financial year.
In what he called his “budget to push forward”, Maynier pledged to allocate R75.4bn in 2023/24 and R76.2bn in the 2024/25 financial year.
The province will spend a massive R229bn over the medium term on the provincial government’s strategic priorities, including jobs, safety and well-being.
This three-year total includes allocations to the front-line services, including education, health care, social development and infrastructure.
Maynier said the budget allocations would go to supporting vulnerable municipalities, improving the efficiency of expenditure by improving value-for-money in procurement, and mitigating existing risks such as drought, fire and flooding as well as new risks such as cyberattacks.
“We have R1.3bn in the provincial reserves to mitigate future risks in the Western Cape.
“We live in a world that is being turned upside down and so the only certainty is uncertainty in South Africa.”
He said that to mitigate existing and future risks, the provincial treasury had provided a provincial reserve in the amount of R430 million in 2022/23, R550.6m in 2023/24 and R338.6m in 2024/25, for “unforeseen and unavoidable expenditure in the Western Cape”.
Maynier said the provincial treasury had held the fiscal line by relentlessly implementing the government’s fiscal strategy to make sure every cent counts in the province.
“We have allocated R777m for the health platform, which will be spent on the fight against Covid-19; allocated R198m for the roll-out of vaccinations; and allocated R17m for communication efforts to improve vaccine uptake.”
He said he had allocated R200m to a contingency reserve, which would ensure that the province remained flexible in its fight against Covid-19.
Meanwhile, the war between Russia and Ukraine made an appearance in the budget when, at the end of his speech, Maynier spoke of his pride in being a member of the provincial executive that was the only one in the country to take a stand in support of the people of Ukraine.
This point did not go down too well with Al-Jamah MPL Galil Brinkhuis, who rose on a point of order saying it was unfair for deputy speaker Beverley Schäfer to allow Maynier to make reference to the war in his speech, yet she had denied his earlier request to discuss the Palestinian issue in the legislature.
During Maynier’s speech, members of the ANC held aloft posters calling for monies to be allocated to the Khayelitsha Hospital and the rebuilding of the GF Jooste Hospital, as well as to the Red Dot and Blue Dot taxi grants.