Speech by Anton Bredell, Minister of Local Government Environmental Affairs and Development Planning on the occasion of the 2018 Budget Speech
Honorable Speaker
Honorable Premier of the Western Cape
Provincial Cabinet Colleagues and members of the Parliament The Head of the Department and the CEO for CapeNature Invited Guests,
Colleagues and friends,
Good Afternoon
As a department with a broad mandate that includes the environment and development planning, the past few years has become increasingly difficult under prevailing environmental conditions.
We are sitting in the middle of a once in 400-year drought and the impact has been devastating, particularly in the agriculture sector.
Despite the workload increasing and the pressure mounting, we see that budgets for this vital area of government keeps getting sliced thinner and thinner.
As an example I would like to highlight one statistic from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning:
Under current budgetary constraints and conditions, the department currently has 544 approved positions on the organogram.
Because of funding constraints and frozen posts, 180 of those posts are currently vacant.
And there is no money available to appoint more staff. The result is that our work is constrained to some extent.
Despite that constraint, the department has met all its targets in the past year and the continued output by the department remains world class.
Agbare Speaker
Die verlammende droogte bly bo aan ons gedagtes soos wat ons hier vergader.
Die droogte en die gepaardgaande ramp is harde houe wat ons vat, waarvoor ons nie gevra het nie maar wat ons bestuur so goed ons kan. As provinsie het ons geen rol by die uitrol van water infrastruktuur nie.
Dit is n nasionale regerings verantwoordelikheid en dit maak my bang as ek moet kyk na wat ons nasionale kollegas sê en doen wat betref nuwe water projekte vir ons provinsie.
Want daar is op die oomblik bykans geen nuwe werklike projekte aan die gang of beplan vir langtermyn watersekerheid in die Wes-Kaap nie.
Ten spyte van die langdurige droogte wat ons tans ervaar.
Die enigste groot projek waaraan meer as R2 miljard reeds spandeer is - die verhoging van die Clanwilliam damwal – is gestaak en gaan nie langer voort nie.
Ons moet vra wat aan die gang is in die nasionale departement en ons moet begin gesels oor die werklikheid van water en die bestuur daarvan op provinsiale vlak.
Dit is internasionale beste praktyk dat waterbeplanning en ontwikkelingsbeplanning geintegreer word en dat water op provinsiale vlak bestuur word met gepaardgaande begrotings.
Dit is nie tans die situasie in Suid-Afrika nie.
Ook nie hier in die Wes-Kaap nie, waar ons watersake grootliks deur amptenare in Pretoria bestuur moet word met min kennis van die provinsie se algehele ontwikkelingsdoelstellings en behoeftes.
Ek wil die gesprek begin met die nuwe nasionale minister in die portefeulje en met ander nasionale regeringsvennote om te kyk na die moontlikheid om water oor te neem as ’n provinsiale mandaat.
Ons moet meer beheer kan hê oor ons eie toekoms ook in dié opsig.
Ons is hoopvol op ‘n goeie reënval seisoen in die komende wintermaande maar daar is nog niks konkreets om aan vas te hou nie. Daarom doen ons ‘n beroep om die gemeenskap om saam te werk en water te bespaar om te verseker ons bereik die 2019 seisoen met water nog in ons stelsel beskikbaar.
Madam Speaker,
Vote 9 (nine) for the Department Environmental Affairs and Development Planning amounts to a total budget for the year of R604 million.
Fifty percent of that amount is allocated to CapeNature – the Western Cape Government’s custodian of biodiversity in the province.
I want to touch on budgetary challenges and note that in the 2017 adjustment budgets, Vote 9’s allocation was reduced by R38.8 million as part of the provincial government’s reprioritizing of budgets to tackle the impact of the ongoing drought disaster.
Madam Speaker
The priority spending areas for this department over the upcoming MTEF period includes an amount of R41 million that has been prioritized for drought management and water security initiatives.
The Current drought has put the spotlight on the importance of water security. Ongoing focus and awareness around water planning and management in the province is crucial.
In this regard we are proud of our achievements with projects in the Berg River Catchment areas and the plan to roll out the project to the Breede River kicked off in the last year.
Amongst others, this work speaks to:
- promoting sustainable land-use practices across all sectors,
- Reducing the impact of agriculture on the Breede River’s water quality to acceptable levels and to promote sustainable agriculture.
- Enhancing the rehabilitation of alien plant cleared areas.
The departments ongoing climate change response plans have been allocated R22,8 million over the MTEF period. [Read more]
