MEC for Finance, Ina Cronjé invited business, political leaders and communities of Greytown and Msinga to participate in the management of the provincial budget by reporting financial ill-discipline and corruption committed by government officials and business people that do business with government.
Cronjé made this call during her signature province-wide post budget roadshow which, today, took place in Greytown and Msinga areas. These outreach programmes are meant to inform and educate people about the provincial budget and its associated priorities as well as to get them involved in governance.
Head of Treasury, Simiso Magagula, said the purpose of the visit is to unpack in detail the budget speech tabled at the Provincial Legislature last month. He also said it was important because the budget gives facts to key priorities which include job creation as emphasised by President Jacob Zuma in the State of the Nation Address early this year.
“The business sector must work with government to create jobs at a bigger scale. But we also want input from everyone which will be considered when putting together the next budget,” said Magagula.
Cronjé said she wants people to check if the budget is doing what it is supposed to do which includes improving health and education, ensuring rural development, fighting crime and corruption and creating jobs.
“We want you to hold us- government accountable. To the business people that work with government, we want them to give us quality that we pay for. Unfortunately, some of them over quote and render poor service because they want to be rich overnight. They charge us for a Rolls Royce and deliver a wheel barrow. Government is not a cash cow,”she said.
Some of the input raised by both business people and communities include the need for government to organise more outreach programmes to educate communities about the budget so that there can be a decrease in service delivery protests.
Another view was that since the country is moving towards implementing National Health Insurance (NHI), rural communities must be given more information on this new health scheme and how it impacts on the budget.
Welcome Mhlambo, one of Msinga residents said Msinga business people need to be uplifted through doing more business with government. He said they would like benefits that include catering and entertainment among others.
For more information please contact:
Musa Cebisa
Cell: 071 687 8777
