The National Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) MEC for Finance, Ina Cronjé, met the business and academic communities today to discuss progress made by both South Africa and KwaZulu-Natal in terms of management of public finances.
During this breakfast event held at Elangeni Hotel in Durban and sponsored by Absa bank and Telkom, Gordhan presented the national post-budget analysis while Cronjé gave a picture of how KwaZulu-Natal has managed public finances within the five-year term that began in 2009.
Gordhan said the country has achieved a certain level of growth despite recession that crippled the world economy. “The country is still recovering from that and we have made massive adjustments in the way we manage the fiscus. We have had to manage expectations from government itself and move from a period of plenty to a period of scarcity. Even the provinces have had to feel the pressure. In essence, our view has been to work with the money we have and ensure that we introduce new measures in a bid to safeguard the resources we have. Although we have achieved 2.7 percent growth of the economy this year, our economy has still not recovered and we need to manage our fiscus with exactly that in mind”, he said.
Gordhan said there is a need to look at how the country can create more labour-absorbing opportunities in the continent. He further said there is a need to focus on skills development and vocational training and that these programmes were already in place.
“ We as government and business need to continue to work together to address all issues of economic interest for South Africa and this will help us develop the muscle to be economically competitive in the African continent,” emphasised Gordhan.
Cronjé said KwaZulu-Natal experienced its highest level of over-expenditure in 2008/09 and that the following year was also high, but lower than R5.6 bn that had been projected at mid-year of 2009/10.
“ In 2008/09, KZN went into a significant bank overdraft. In 2010/11 KZN under-spent its budget by R3.4 billion, resulting in a turn-around in its cash position and enabling Provincial Treasury to pay off the bank overdraft in a mere 18 months, compared to the anticipated years. KZN has remained cash positive since May 2010,” she said.
Cronjé said that there were new interventions to address skills development. “We have taken steps in forging strategic partnerships. We have a running partnership with the South African Chartered Accountants for the development of skills base of Chartered Accountants. We currently have 53 learners from all over KwaZulu-Natal on this programme. The intention is to have a total of 100 CAs that can be deployed in all of KwaZulu-Natal’s departments, entities and municipalities to improve the financial management capability of municipalities,” concluded Cronjé.
Enock Chisana from SAFCOC said black businesses are not given enough opportunities in the South African economy, but they end up becoming consumers instead of have stakes in many business ventures taking place in the country.
Zinhle Cele said co-operatives need to be assisted more in order for them to grow as they can play a major role in the development of the provincial economy.
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