What the DA wants to hear from Creecy’s budget …

A cut in spending on extravagances such as lavish catering, travel, entertainment and advertising is what the Gauteng Province needs to do.

This according to a statement released by the DA’s shadow MEC of Finance, Adriana Randall ahead of the budget speech that will be delivered by Finance MEC, Barbara Creecy tomorrow. Randall has said that provincial finances should be directed towards serious service delivery backlogs in key areas such as education, healthcare and infrastructure development.

She highlighted that for the period under review, the Gauteng government incurred irregular expenditure amounting to R4 billion, unauthorised expenditure totalling R12 million (incurred by the Department of Sports) and fruitless and wasteful expenditure of R29 million.

Randall also urged the MEC to end the tendency of paying last year’s bills with this year’s budget. “This amounts to billions of rands and eats into a budget that is supposed to bring better service delivery and a better life for all. These are the so-called ‘accruals’,” Randall warned in a statement.

According to the statement, the critical areas that Randall said Creecy needs to focus on in her budget so as to improve the lives of Gauteng’s residents and to enable the province to prosper are:

Education

The start of the 2017 school year was an unmitigated disaster with 58 000 unplaced children in the province – despite R3 billion having been allocated to the department for finishing 12 new schools, upgrading 26 existing schools and the rehabilitation of 123 existing schools. The department built 936 classrooms in ordinary public schools, compared to the target of 1 100 classrooms. Furthermore, 306 instead of 450 Grade R classrooms were built. The departmental targets set for examinations and education-related services was not achieved.

Infrastructure Development

Infrastructure development within the province has the power to drive social change, create jobs, support businesses and improve the lives of Gauteng residents.

With roughly 300 000 people moving to the province every year, it is essential that infrastructure projects are completed on time, within budget and meet quality criteria. The department had 64 targets under the Public Works programme of which 33 were not met; these included critical projects such as the number of new schools completed and the number of schools which have been converted into smart schools.

The department owes R61 million to various service providers and other State institutions for services received in the previous year, which points to a lack of financial controls and realistic budget planning.

It is imperative that the departmental budget is correctly allocated so as to unlock the infrastructure potential of Gauteng and fast-track back-dated projects, the statement read.

Community safety, economic development and health are other areas that Randall suggests Creecy must prioritise.