The Gauteng Premier David Makhura provided an update on how the Covid-19 pandemic had affected the provincial budget on 18 June.
The virtual house sittings provide an opportunity for Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs) to debate and vote on budget speeches as presented, and for Committees of the Legislature to table their oversight reports on the budgets.
Bonginkosi Dlamini said the Oversight Committee of the Premier’s Office, and the Legislature, have scrutinised the budget for the 2020/21 financial year to understand how the budget would be utilised to ensure the goals are met.
He explained that the legislature’s main source of income came from interest earned on investments in assets and unspent budgets. During the 2019/20 financial year, the legislature earned R23.3 million and in the following financial year, they anticipated a collection of R24 million.
He said the committee had a number of points they wished to be explained by the end of August. These included a progress report on budgetary implications on the reengineering of public participation, a report on the number of lawsuits that the Gauteng Provincial Legislature was facing including budgetary implications.
Makhura said given the current pandemic, his focus was on the government’s response to the pandemic to contain the negative impact of the virus. “If we don’t succeed in that, we have done this work in vain.”
He added that Covid-19 exacerbated and exposed problems such as gender-based violence and the killing of women and children which was its own pandemic. It also exposed rising poverty and unemployment.
He said one-third of people in the province were considered food insecure. “It is several pandemics in one and all of them pose an existential threat to the well-being of humanity as a whole.”
Makhura added that earlier in the year, they had tabled Growing Gauteng Together as a plan of action which featured seven priorities which focused on the economy, infrastructure, education, skills, healthcare, integrated settlements and provided social support, among others.
“There priorities are even more relevant now because of the various dimensions of this crisis which are showing up. Whether it is food security, public health or job losses.”
He said over the next decade, the goal was to create 3.1 million jobs and reduce unemployment from 29 per cent to 15 per cent. “We want to reduce poverty from 25 per cent to 16 per cent and we want to reduce inequality from 0.7 per cent to o.62 per cent and reduce crime by 50 per cent.”
Makhura said the financial impact of the pandemic had been severe and it was estimated that two million people may lose their jobs. “The Office of the Premier’s responsibility is to drive the whole of the provincial government and its municipalities around achieving the objectives set out.”
He explained that they have have been working to coordinate all departments over the past two months and most of the things they would have focused on have had to be shelved in favour of dealing with the pandemic.
“We have reorganised government decision making and policy planning as well as disaster management and service delivery, principally in order to deal with the current emergency.”
He said as the economy continued to open up, they needed to monitor the infection rate and shut down some sectors again if necessary.
He concluded that a new economic model post-Covid-19 must look at serious challenges such as abuse against women and children. “The Office of the Premier is called upon to lead the rethinking and the reorganisation of Gauteng Provincial Government including working with our municipalities to adequately respond to multiple dimensions of a crisis born out of a public health emergency and what would be a global economic depression. It can’t be business as usual.”
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