Today at Underberg, thousands of people from all walks of life in Harry Gwala District Municipality (previously known as Sisonke District Municipality) had an opportunity to give their views on where the provincial government should spend money. This was the first group of people that the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance, Ms Ina Cronjé, engaged with ahead of her provincial budget, which will be tabled early next year.
This consultation was the first of the many to come Pre-Budget Road-shows aimed at engaging and listening to the views of the business sector and communities of the province on what they would like to see in the 2014/15 budget allocations.
This two fold launch started with the business breakfast meeting at Sani Pass Hotel where MEC Cronjé told the hall packed of business fraternity that it is important that government come to the public and business sector to scrutinise the budget so that the people can hold the government accountable, citizens can serve as advocacy for policy changes, ensuring transparency, and to give a sense of security and stability of governance.
Addressing the community at Himeville Sports Ground on the second leg of the launch, MEC Cronjé took the time to explain the intricate budget processes. “We want to give people better insight into what is it that we spend tax payers money on because we are very mindful as Provincial Treasury that the money that we spend is not our money, but it is the money belonging to the people and coming from the people. We fully understand that it is our duty to ensure at all times that we spend it to the best advantage of all South Africans”.
KwaSani Munipality Mayor, Cllr Mduduzi Banda, said “this engagement brings to our community an opportunity to discuss both provincial and Municipality financial matters. Our people benefited a lot from the tips on how to save and spending money wisely during the festive season”.
The district municipality used this opportunity to engage the community on the municipality's Integrated Development Plan (IDP) so that it is aligned to the needs of the community.
Business sector and communities were also given an opportunity to raise their concerns about government spending and service delivery.
From KwaSani Business Association, Mr Richard Jardime, said that the area has a grouping of four different legs of the business which are; Town Based Businesses, Agriculture, Farmers, Tourism, and Other businesses.
“Tourism is very much a growth industry in this part of the world. This area attracts a lot of local and international tourist. This is why we feel privileged when we are seeing a lot of infrastructure developments coming in here, most of the roads are tarred which will benefit tourism in the area. It is fantastic to see government coming to us prepared to engage with us. Of course we have a lot of local influence and priorities and we would like the government to understand those because we understand that finances are always going to be tight and we want to make sure that the money that is going to be spent here is going to be spent into the benefit of everyone, wisely, efficiently and that wastages kept down to a minimum” said Jardime.
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