Madam Speaker and Deputy Speaker
Honourable Premier, Mrs Nomvula Mokonyane
Colleagues in the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature
Members of Parliament present here today
Mayors and speakers from various municipalities
Heads of department, government officials and leaders of our agencies
Leaders of various political parties
Leaders of the business community
Distinguished guests
Comrades and friends
The people of Gauteng
"If the things we face are greater and more important than the things we refuse to face, then at least we have begun the re-evaluation of our world. At least we have started to learn to see and live again.
But if we refuse to face any of our awkward and deepest truths, then sooner or later, we are going to have to become deaf and blind. And then, eventually, we are going to have to silence our dreams, and the dreams of others. In other words, we die. We die in life." (Ben Okri, A Way of Being Free, 1997)
Madam Speaker
In tabling the 2010/11 budget proposal for consideration by this house, we ought to be mindful of the economic strains that we have endured recently and further provide an objective account of "the things we face" in our management of public funds as we embark on the "re-evaluation of our world". The honest re-evaluation of our world would inevitably lead us to an acknowledgement of the awkward and deepest truths that we encounter in our management of public funds and in doing so we would be better prepared to chart a way forward with hope and courage and we will be better placed to realise our dreams and the dreams of others.
Madam Speaker, the acknowledgement and eventually owning up to our "awkward and deepest truths" is paramount to the realisations of the objectives of "the year of action" as eloquently outlined by the Premier in her State of the Province Address when she said that "this is a Year of action. It is a year for all of us to speed up service delivery."
Honourable Members: According to the Novel/Nobel Literati Mr Ben Okri that, "The things we refuse to face in life feed the enormous appetite of this dangerous truth-telling inner faculty of dreams. The things we refuse to face in life become monsters in our sleep". To avoid encountering "monsters in our sleep", the provincial government under the leadership of Honourable Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, has re-committed provincial government to own up to its actions by acknowledging and communicating our "awkward and deepest truths" to all the people of Gauteng and so subject ourselves to the highest possible level of public scrutiny (from all works of life, including the opposition bench). This will afford us an opportunity to "learn to see and live again".
And So, Madam Speaker, the provincial government has re-embarked on a democratic consolidation project. As part of this project, this year the Gauteng Department of Finance has sought to increase the awareness of the people of Gauteng in the budget process by affording them an opportunity to air their views in the budget process. This was done through a website address in the communication unit of the department and other related media and communication channels dedicated to sourcing out views of the people of Gauteng about what the provincial budget should entail and what their views about 2010 are. Close to 200 hundred people participated in this process, we hope to increase participation in the next financial year. This is what they had to say, Ms Eugenia Mahlabane, a grade 12 learner, from Dan Kutumela Secondary School, "the government should allocate more money to Universities so that students from poor families should access tertiary education, am scared that after matric I will sit at home and do nothing like my brother who completed school two years ago but didn’t have money to further his studies."
Madam Speaker, there is a sense of optimism expressed by the people of
Gauteng, generated largely by the FIFA World Cup and the prospect of economic recovery, in this regard Bongani Dlamini writes, Dube, "This is a year of plenty, when all South Africans will reap the fruits of economic recovery and benefit from the FIFA Soccer World Cup related opportunities!" Tlala o kotsing! Afrika ke nako! 2010 is our year
Principles of the budget
In line with the decisions of the Executive Council and to further strengthen our efforts in laying a foundation for the realisation of the 2009/14 electoral mandate, the 2010/11 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) is guided by four compelling principles
* Creating a Social Security Safety Net for the vulnerable sections of our society
* Sustaining employment growth and expanding economic opportunities
* Strengthening service delivery in a sustained manner
* Promote prudent management of public finances as defined in the medium term budget policy statement.
Economic outlook
The global economy
2009 was the year in which the vulnerability of our global economy was painfully revealed. The global economy underwent the most severe economic recession in recent history having exhibited a contraction of global output for most of 2009.
This has resulted in a call for a fundamental shift in the way we think about economics and the fundamentals that frame our thinking in this regard. Following this downturn, the global economy has now emerged from the recession and entered a period of economic recovery. Although the recovery has been stronger than anticipated, the speed of recovery has been somewhat uneven, with the upturn initially occurring in emerging and developing countries and broadening to advanced economies in the latter half of 2009.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects that global output will emerge from -0.8 percent in 2009 to reach 3.9 percent in 2010 and recover further to 4.3 percent in 2011. Although advanced economies are also forecasted to recover, the growth rates are forecasted to remain close to two percent for both 2010 and 2011. Emerging and developing economies are forecasted to recover, reaching a growth rate of six percent in 2010 with this growth primarily being driven by the recovery in the Chinese and Indian economies reaching 10 percent and 7.7 percent respectively.
The South African Economy
Having entered an economic recession in the first quarter of 2009, the South African economy emerged from the short-lived downturn at the end of 2009 to record an overall contraction of 1.8percent. The contraction was largely the result of declines in domestic demand and investment. The South African government has implemented expansionary macroeconomic policies which will foster economic recovery, having increased the budget deficit to 7.3 percent of GDP and reducing the repo rate by a total of five percent since December 2008. The National Treasury forecasts that consumption and investment will grow by 0.9 percent and 5.8 percent respectively for 2010 and 2011. As such, economic growth will also recover to 2.3 percent for 2010, and increase further to 3.2 percent for 2011 and 3.6 percent for 2012.
Employment was severely affected by the recession, having manifested itself in the form of 870 000 job losses during the course of 2009. Unemployment in South Africa has reached 24,3 percent by the fourth quarter of 2009 an increase of about two percent, the worrying fact is that 74 percent of the unemployed are young people between the ages of 15 and 35.
The fourth quarter of 2009 saw some recovery in the labour market with an increase in jobs of 89 000 with most of these jobs being concentrated in the finance and construction sectors.
The Gauteng economy
The Gauteng economy continues to contribute the largest share to the national economy. For 2009 it is forecasted that, once more, this contribution will amount to over 33 percent. As the powerhouse of the South African economy, Gauteng has been at the coalface of the recession during the course of 2009, with more than half the 870 000 job losses occurring in Gauteng. As a result, Gauteng unemployment rate for the fourth quarter of 2009 reached 25.7 percent an increase of about five percent. When families suffer such losses or when businesses are forced to close, this affects us all.
Honourable Members, these are some of the "awkward and deepening truths" that characterise the state of the provincial economy. As a responsible and caring leadership we have to frankly and unashamedly reflect on them so that we can jointly take responsibility and derive lasting solutions to such unacceptable levels of unemployment in the province.
Madam Speaker the Provincial Government through the Department of Economic Development has devised strategies to confront and deal with the current economic challenges. An Anti-Recessionary Plan focusing on Economic Recovery has been designed to create decent jobs mainly in the green economy. The major focus of the strategy includes Support distressed sectors and companies focusing on the hardest hit industries such as the automotive and components sector.
Cooperation with sector education and training authorities (SETAs) for re-skilling and up-skilling of retrenched workers and school leavers (National Training Layoff Scheme [NTLS]); training of retrenched metal workers and others (re-skilling), including support to SMMEs to promote the manufacture of the components for motor vehicles together with the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Establish a help desk for distressed companies to assist companies and employees while linking them to the NTLS, or facilitate support from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), financial institutions, Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) or the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP) as appropriate.
GEP to provide special assistance to distressed small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the sectors and companies identified. The GEP initiative will target 30 000 retrenched workers and school leavers. On a positive note, the provincial economy is beginning to show early signs of recovery, especially in the tourism and hospitality sector. This is predominantly due to the economic opportunities that are arising as a result of South Africa hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup in 100 days time. Gauteng is a home to three of the eight soccer stadia and hosts about 21 matches out of 64; this includes the opening and closing ceremony. Gauteng will certainly benefit from the foreign and domestic revenue flows due to increased tourism as visitors flock to the province during the course of the FIFA World Cup.
Madam Speaker, the Premier alluded that the provincial government has committed an estimate amount of 34 billion rand over the next three years for infrastructure development projects, such as the building and hospitals and schools, construction of roads, bulk services and human settlement throughout the province.
To complement provincial government development initiatives, national government has allocated R2,2 billion to support job creation initiatives in communities across the country. Currently, there are 10 sites in the province and one pilot site in Munsieville. Over the next four years, Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) will make a significant financial commitment to expanding the critical works programme in the province. This programme provides an employment safety net to individuals while alleviating poverty through a stable income of R150 a day for two days a week and 100 days a year. Optimum participation in the programme is expected to grow by 1 000 people per site per annum to an average of 4 000 people. The Community Works Program (CWP) operates at 65 percent labour intensity, where 65 percent of the costs are for wages. It targets communities at ward level in order to build up and improve the services and infrastructure available. The programme has the potential to trigger the expansion of businesses and increasing incomes in the poorest of areas. It is expected that a minimum of 40 000 job opportunities will be created by this programme alone, over the next three years.
Madam Speaker the provincial government has developed a targeted programme that promotes the creation of employment for school leavers. This is a Gauteng intervention to promote youth employability. The programme aims to address factors that contribute to high levels of youth unemployment including: poor work readiness (such as personal presentation, communication skills, timeliness, information technology (IT) skills, or communication); weak work-related capabilities (skills that are related to the workplace); weak job matching services aimed at school leavers; difficulty acquiring a first job (as employers want prior experience or a reference); poor matching of youth into post school further education and training opportunities, and very low completion or pass rates. This programme targets 23 948 school leavers over the MTEF. In implementing the programme, the department will consult widely with all stakeholders including labour.
Madam Speaker, we are delighted to announce that the Department of Economic Development has completed the first phase of the Gauteng Industrial Policy. Sectors that have been provisionally identified include: agriculture and agro-processing; automotive and components; tourism; clothing, textile, leather and footwear; transport; capital equipment including metals; furniture; ICT-E; business process outsourcing and offshoring (BPO-O); construction; and knowledge economy. Through focused sector strategies, aligned upwards with the national action plan, the department will focus increasingly on labour absorbing sectors and thus promote decent work outcomes. We will align our enterprise development, procurement and infrastructure spending with our sectoral strategies. In addition, we will endeavour to promote localisation and in this way contribute towards the balance of payments.
Madam Speaker, all this initiatives seeks to stimulate the economy of Gauteng in line with our development philosophy. Gauteng’s strength comes from its people and we must ensure that all citizens are enabled to participate to the fullest extent in the new economy. Speaking about the conception of development Professor Michael Todaro, has this to say, "Development must be conceived of as a multidimensional process involving major changes in social structures, popular attitudes, and national institutions, as well as the acceleration of economic growth, the reduction of inequality, and the eradication of poverty". The conception of development as elaborated by the learned Professor is in line with our development strategy as outlined in the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2009/14.
Madam Speaker, Professor Todaro continues "development in its essence, must represent the whole gamut of change by which an entire social system, tuned to the diverse basic needs and desires of individuals and social groups within that system, moves away from a condition of life widely perceived as unsatisfactory towards a situation or condition of life regarded as materially and spiritually better?".
Resourcing outcomes
Honourable Speaker, allow me to turn my attention and that of the house to the main aspect of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF), budget allocations.
The 2010/11 MTEF budget lays a solid foundation for the realisation of the five year GPG priorities of 2009/14, which are:
* Improve the quality of basic education
* Live long and healthy lives
* Ensure that South Africans are and feel safe
* Ensure decent employment for people by facilitating and contributing to inclusive economic growth
* Vibrant communities and food security for all
* Create sustainable human settlements and improve the quality of household life
* Building responsive, effective and efficient local governments.
Honourable Speaker the projected revenue for the 2010/11 financial year is R61.7 billion. The total provincial revenue consists of transfers from national and provincial own revenue. National transfers are made of equitable share and conditional grants. Equitable share accounts for 73 percent while conditional grants accounts for 23 percent of the total transfer from national. Equitable share grow from R45.1 billion in 2010/11 financial year to R51.4 billion in 2012/13 financial year. This shows a projected average growth of 6.78 percent over the MTEF, while conditional grants grow by an average of 5.7 percent over the MTEF.
Provincially raised revenue will grow from R2.8 billion in 2010/11 to R3.2 billion in the 2012/13 financial year. Provincial own revenue is projected to accumulate to R9.1 billion over the MTEF. The provincial own revenue is derived from the following, motor vehicle licenses, hospital fees, gambling taxes and interest revenue.
The total conditional grant allocated to the GPG for the 2010/11 financial year amounts to R13.729 billion. A gradual increase is projected over the 2010 MTEF mainly due to the increase in the allocation of comprehensive HIV and AIDS grant, infrastructure grant and Gautrain. Of importance to note is that the unallocated amount of R39.2 million in 2010/11 is an incentive grant that will be transferred and recorded in the books of the province based on the set achievement of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) targets.
Outcome one: Improving the quality of basic education
Madam Speaker, as the President alluded in his State of the Nation Address, education is at the centre of our priorities, because we understand that in order for our economy to thrive and compete internationally we need to have an educated populace that drives such economy. An amount of R1.1 billion has been set aside for improvement of education management, district support services and ensuring that educators and learners are at school on time and effective learning is taking place. The Department of Education has been allocated R217.5 million over the MTEF to further contribute to skills development through the establishment of the bursary fund. This fund will offer financial access to institutions of higher learning to learners from disadvantaged communities. This will serve to resolve a concern rose by Eugenia Mahalabne that funds must be made available to assist learners from disadvantaged background to further their studies.
Honourable Speaker, In order to create a better foundation to formal education, an allocation of R2.4 billion has been made available over the MTEF to ensure expanded access to the Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme. This will be in line with the national priority of universal access to the ECD programme within schools and in communities. The Departments of Education, Health and Social Development will continue to build and rehabilitate the ECD facilities to offer Pre-Grade R and Grade R development programmes in order to achieve the province’s target of universal access to Grade R.
Madam Speaker, an additional amount of R300 million has been set aside to enhance the mathematical, literacy and technological skills of learners particularly those that are going to be subjected to an external assessment the Grade 3, 6 and 9.
Madam Speaker, over the MTEF R4,5 billion has been set aside for education infrastructure related projects, to ensure improvement of conditions for learning which includes construction of new Schools, major refurbishment and preventative maintenance.
Outcome two: Living long and healthy lives
Honourable Members, the Premier has pronounced an expansion of programmes and projects aimed at combating the scourge of HIV and AIDS. The national and provincial strategic plan on HIV and AIDS has been reviewed. The Department of Health will scale-up and expand the roll-out of the antiretroviral treatment to all people infected with the HIV and AIDS virus, mainly utilising the conditional grant allocation of R5.8 billion over the MTEF. This will further be complimented by the improved implementation of the HIV and AIDS workplace programme within Gauteng provincial departments. Primary Healthcare (PHC) is very critical in improving the health status of communities. In providing this service the budget makes available over the MTEF, a total amount of over R6 billion. Part of the initiatives to be implemented during this period includes the extension of operating hours of public primary health care facilities throughout the province, improved queue and pharmacy management. This will result in communities making use of community-based PHC facilities 24 hours as part of ensuring that our health care systems works effectively.
Madam Speaker, In order to effectively respond to the growing demand for Emergency Medical Services (EMS), an amount of R2.1 billion over the next MTEF has been made available for the management of EMS including the refurbishment of the existing and new EMS facilities. This will reduce the call response time and furthermore provide quality services during the 2010 FIFA World Cup event and beyond. In order to improve access to health care and performance of the public health system in the province, the Department of Health has prioritised level one bed, purchase of medical equipment and supplies, development and implementation of the Turnaround Strategy and Plan for the community health centres and central hospitals. The sector will also implement the turnaround plan in 10 provincial hospitals to improve levels of healthcare to the citizens of Gauteng. A total of R6,3 billion has been allocated over the MTEF for health infrastructure.
Madam Speaker, we are delighted that the national Department of Health has honoured the Province by prioritising two of our biggest hospital Chris Hani Baragwanath and Dr George Mukhari as part of the Public Private Partnership.
Outcome three: Ensure that South Africans are and feel safe
Madam Speaker as announced by the Premier in her State of the Province Address, the Province’s aggravated robbery strategy has contributed positively in the fight against crime through the enhancement of crime rapid response teams. The Department of Community Safety will continue to conduct regular Joint Aggravated Robbery Steering committee meetings to assess progress and achievement in implementing the strategy. The department plans to achieve a 20 minutes response time to intensify the fight against crime and build safe communities. In 2009/10 financial year, 56 vehicles were purchased for the South African Police Service's (SAPS) rapid response team.
In this financial year 2010/11, the Department of Community Safety has been allocated an estimate amount of R14.5 million towards rural safety and the patroller program. In order to promote safety within rural communities, a rural safety strategy intended to implement a strategic approach to improving safety in Gauteng has been developed and adopted by EXCO. A report has been completed and adopted. A total of 4 020 patrollers have been recruited, trained and deployed within various high risk communities. This will strengthen the visibility of law enforcement personnel and thereby reducing the possibilities of crime.
Madam Speaker, the department has developed a programme called Hlayiseka, The purpose of the project is to create safe and secure schooling environment. In order to improve the safety of schools and surrounding areas, the department is developing an electronic school safety database and directory. Workshops will be held to address common safety problems and the development of an early warning mechanism to respond to these challenges and incidents quickly and appropriately. For the province to reduce road fatalities, investment has been made to increase activities around road user compliance; reduction of road unworthy vehicles; law enforcement and adjudication; verification of accident reports and public education. Expansion of these services will ensure that there is safe passage of motorists and road safety in the province.
Outcome four: "Ensure decent employment for the people of Gauteng by facilitating and contributing to inclusive economic growth" As part of our endeavour of creating decent work for sustainable livelihood and building a growing and inclusive economy, the Gauteng Provincial Government through the Department of Economic Development has made a strategic investment in the projects and programmes in scaling up job creation.
Honourable Members assistance to the agricultural sector of R12.4 million has been made available towards the improvement of in infrastructure and employment creation in this sector through the maize triangle strategy. The strategy entails development of Emfuleni Agriculture hub, Midvaal Agriculture hub and Lesedi Agriculture hub. Each agricultural hub will receive a start-up seeds and fertilisers, tractors, related farming equipment as well as farmer support services.
As part of honouring our commitments we made in the last Copenhagen Climate Change Summit late last year, the provincial government will intensive its effort to clean and green the environment. The clean and green strategy project initiated in the 2009/10 will continue over the next MTEF, at an estimated cost of R8 million set aside in this budget for greening the environment. This strategy includes the environment clean-up campaigns, conversion of illegal dumping sites into recreational parks and tree planting in identified areas to ensure that the green-form of nature is restored, and this will further contribute to minimising the impact of global warming. As part of revitalising the manufacturing sector, the Babelegi Industrial Park will be rehabilitated and transfer process of the Ekandustria will be finalised with Mpumalanga Provincial Government.
As the Premier has made known in the State of the Province Address the provincial government will use cooperatives as a development models to ensure redistribution of wealth, reduce inequalities and create new job opportunities. We will follow the service delivery model of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. Furthermore this budget makes provision for the province to utilise R7.5 million to launch and implement a Community Works programme in the coming fiscal year. This program will, provide much more needed employment opportunities to the people of Gauteng especially those from the poor rest households.
Madam Speaker, as has been said earlier, the 2010 FIFA World Cup presents greater opportunities for economic growth, through increased production and job creation especially in the Tourism and Hospitality Industries. To capitalise on the excitement created around the world cup, next month the provincial government through the Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation will host a Gauteng Gateway 2010 Summit in order to attract businesses to showcase Gauteng as the destination for further investment in hospitality, tourism, art and entertainment. The Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation will spend R4.8 million in the 2010/11 financial year for the 2010 FIFA World Cup activities.
Outcome five: Vibrant Rural Communities and food security
Honourable Speaker as part of our endeavour to fight poverty and hunger, an amount of R37,5 million has been set aside to enable government to distribute food parcels to home community based centres. Five regional food banks will be established in the 2010/11 financial year to benefit about 14 800 people receiving food parcels through home community based centres. Tlala o kotsing!
Madam Speaker, as part of providing food security to the people of Gauteng, the provincial government will intensify the implementation of the community and households food production programme, targeting establishment of 36 000 household food gardens and over 900 community and school-based food production units by 2014. The Letsema/Iilima project has been allocated R51 million over the MTEF (under the theme "Back to the land and work the land") to provide 128 farmers with production inputs, i.e. land preparation, start-up seeds, irrigation equipments and agricultural extension support.
Madam Speaker in this term of governance we will intensify the stimulation of rural development and the creation of food security will be enhanced through sustainable livelihoods, greening and planting food as well as mobilising communities into partnerships to manage their natural resources. The department will establish and manage the Land Care Forum; five junior land care school projects and six junior Land Care youth camps. This will be implemented as part of the Gauteng Clean and Green campaign. As a result, R8 million has been set aside for the implementation of the project.
Honourable Members, a total amount of R5.8 million over the MTEF has been allocated to the department to enable them to continue to develop the
20 Greenhouse Gas inventories, which is aimed at managing the climate change effects. A strategy to ensure that the environment is sustained will be completed in 2010/11 and implementation will commence in 2011/12 financial year.
Outcome six: Create sustainable human settlements and improve the quality of household life
Madam Speaker, as part of ensuring that the dignity of school children from disadvantaged background is preserved, the Department of Education, through its Bana Pele Program, the school uniform provisioning has been allocated R142 million over the MTEF to provide social protection to children living in poverty by providing them with school uniform.
Honourable Members, In order to localise the provision of school uniform to have economic impact in those communities, the provincial government has brought closer the Department of Economic Development to train and capacitate about 300 cooperatives to exclusively produce the school uniforms for the needy children.
Masupatsela Pioneer Programme has been allocated R14 million over the MTEF. This programme is a pilot initiative that seeks to promote social cohesion especially, to inculcate a culture of activism; promote patriotism amongst the youth; and direct youth actions towards solidarity. The successful and optimal implementation of this programme will build a foundation for improving youth abilities through community service and learning opportunities.
Madam Speaker, in line with our objective of alleviating poverty, war room on poverty received R3.1 million over the MTEF. The programme targets deprived households in the poorest wards within municipalities. Electronic data capturing will be rolled-out in 2010/11.
To deepen democracy, the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation (SACR) began to proactively engage the communities of Gauteng around democracy related matters, this exercise has taken different forms, currently the communities are being taught about the significance of the National Flag, National Anthem and all National Symbols, the Code of Arm etc. An amount of R4.8 million over the MTEF has been set aside for the implementation such purposes and of "getting to know your province".
Madam Speaker, the reality of global warming has reign in, this has been experienced through the ever changing climate conditions, characterised by lots of rain and overflowing of rivers around our communities, as a result the provincial government over the first two years of the MTEF, R4.5 million will be spent on teaching young people to swim. The province has initiated a Learn to swim programme in partnership with Swimming South Africa. Training and support will be provided to swimming coaches and life-savers in all communities with swimming pools. The learn to swim programme will be up-scaled to ensure that the province meets the targets over the next five years to teach young people in communities to swim and to identify talented swimmers who can be fast tracked into the high performance programmes. An audit of all existing swimming facilities has been undertaken in order to ascertain the condition of these facilities.
As the Premier announced last week the 20 PTP project will continue over the next MTEF, focus will mainly be on the 50 of the poorest wards in the province. Various departments will in an integrated manner provide basic socio-economic service package that includes childcare, skills development, adult basic education, healthcare, food gardens and cooperative development. Ikhaya Lethemba model will remain central in providing social support to the victims of social and domestic crimes such as women and children. The Department of Health and of Community Safety will provide medical, counselling and social support to victims of abuse, rape, etc
Outcome seven: Local government, human settlement and infrastructure
A turnaround strategy for municipalities has been developed; it takes into account the view that a one size fits all approach for municipalities do not work, therefore a municipal specific intervention need to be developed. During the course of the financial year, we will work together with the Department of Local Government and Housing to try to see how best we can assist the municipalities in this regard.
Madam Speaker and Honourable Premier, over the MTEF, the province will spend R12.6 billion towards housing delivery. The emphasis here should not be
about what we are proposing to do but more about how different things need to be done. In the coming year, work around the urban renewal will be strengthened in ensuring that we build cohesive communities. An urban renewal master plan for Winterveldt will be developed.
Honourable members, our tomorrow are determined by what we do today, and what we do today is the result of our vision for tomorrow in the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament reads, "Where there is no vision, the people perish". And we are further advised by the Prophets, "write the vision and make it plain, that they who read it may run with it" to this end the province has established the Gauteng Planning Commission in line with the National Planning Commission in order to improve the capacity of the state and to ensure integrated planning in the province and to develop an overarching vision for the province, in order for us not to perish as warned by the Proverbs, to achieve such objective, an estimate amount of R26.056 million has over the MTEF has been allocated to the Planning Commission furthermore the planning commission will harmonise the provincial planning process by ensuring that all provincial state organs plans give effect to the optimisation and attainment of the province-wide 2009/14 service delivery targets and beyond.
Honourable Speaker, an amount of R12.562 million has been set aside for the Premier Advisory Unit which has been established to provide advice to the Premier. The establishment of the GPG-Wide Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, that has been funded with a total of R789 000 over the MTEF, will be concluded to ensure effective service delivery and improved governance. There generic province-wide monitoring and reporting tool will be developed to ensure that there is uniform reporting within the province and that the report will provide information requirements for all key stakeholders for decision and policy making.
Madam speaker, in effort to ensure that the legislature is able to play its oversight role, we have increased the budget for the legislature by R70 million in 2010/11, R80 in 2011/12 and R95 million in 2012/13. As part of our efforts to enhance financial management and stabilise provincial finances, the province will develop a comprehensive turnaround strategy to generate alternative sources of funding and stabilise provincial finances.
Measures have been put in place to ensure that available limited resources are allocated to key strategic areas that will yield positive results.
A path to sustainable finances in the province
Whilst no industry or government is singularly responsible for such crisis, we all do have a responsibility to act. Our revenues as government have been affected severely as a result of these storms and challenges.
What does this mean for the budget?
It is critical that as the province we maintained sound fiscal footing. This however, will take time and require hard decisions and strong leadership. Sound provincial finances will be guided by a number of tenets. We have sought to set the priorities of government and to ensure that we have wisely and adequately allocated available resources across all provincial outcomes.
We will aim to become more cautious about our revenue and expenditure streams and ensure greater prudency and transparency in our transactions and governance. We will seek to actively drive down administrative costs and ensure that we streamline these systems. We aim to re-examine our purchasing and supply chain management and become more rigorous in contract management practices across the Province as a means of ensuring saving and increasing value.
Madam Speaker, in the past year as highlighted by the Premier, the province has managed to save an amount of R8 billion. An additional R3 billion will be realised once further review of contracts is finalised.
We will continue to ensure quarterly reporting of financial performance for public scrutiny and ensure that we reduce the size of the deficit in each subsequent year of the MTEF. Moreover we will aim to tighten controls in our expenditures to ensure that no funds are deviated from funding the agreed outcomes.
As part of prudent management of public funds, we shall in the first instance build and strengthen the capacity of Chief Financial Officers' office within the departments; by providing financial management intervention in; supply chain management contracts management and other related finance areas.
Departments will be expected to institutionalise demand planning and management. Such will eliminate ad-hoc and manual procurement practises. At the same time, demand planning and procurement trend analysis will give the province the opportunity to consolidate its buying power for economies of scale.
Own revenue
Madam speaker, our own provincial revenue forms a small portion of the total revenue basket it however plays a critical role in financing our outcomes, it then becomes important that we tighten our revenue collections.
Madam Speaker as Gauteng we generate five percent of our revenue, there is therefore a need to optimise given the constrain in the fiscal, as a result during the course of the financial year the Department of Finance will begin a process to evaluate the rest of the revenue streams to ensure that we are efficient and effective in our collections efforts. In our effort to ensure that we optimise revenue generation, the motor vehicle licenses will go up by 10.3 percent in 2010/11.
Madam Speaker, the Gauteng Provincial Government in an effort to augment our provincial fiscus will mobilise external funding to resource strategic infrastructure projects, in the following areas, refurbishment and upgrade of health facilities, Kopanong Precinct, housing development, schools related projects, Sedibeng Sewage System and provincial road infrastructure development.
Savings
Honourable Members would recall that at the begin of the fourth Legislature the Provincial Government embarked on the reprioritisation process, that focused on moving resources from non-core to core functions and reviewing contracts that are not in line with the new provincial priorities. The review process on contract has to date saved the provincial government around R8 billion, further work is still being carried with a potential of saving government about R3 billion. Our current fiscal space calls for everyone to utilise the current resources to deliver services in an efficient manner. We further propose that administrative costs should be looked at, this has a huge potential of saving the province a billion or so.
Madam Speaker, in ensuring that resources are targeted towards high impact areas, the budgets of all departments, excluding Education and Health, Housing and Legislature have been top sliced by three percent, top slicing will, mainly come from administrative costs of departments. .
Madam Speaker, we urge accounting officers working together with senior managers in the departments to further reprioritise and use the available resources to fund agreed outcomes.
Conclusion
Honourable Premier, the budget tabled here today gives practical effect, to our programme of social cohesion, and in particular to prioritising the needs of the poor.
Madam Speaker, in tabling this budget we sought to, in the words of President Barack Obama, "we need to steer of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realise their full potential".
Madam Speaker this is the philosophy that underpinned this budget, People must work hard to achieve their goals, as government we will create enabling environment for them to realise their full potential.
Madam Speaker, let me take this opportunity to thank Premier Mokonyane for her leadership and guidance, and also thank my colleagues in the Executive Committee for their continued support and their critical engagement, in particular members of the Premier Budget Committee.
Madam Speaker, we have had another fruitful year of engagement with the Portfolio Committee of Finance led by Honourable Hope Papo. The committee have brought both energy and good judgement to the enormously important challenge of deepening the quality of provincial budgeting and service delivery.
Thanks, finally, to the acting Head of Department of Finance Mrs Nomfundo Tshabalala and the staff of the Department of Finance for the outstanding work in preparing this budget.
My appreciation also goes to my wife Nomalanga for her on-going support. Let me also thank my family and friends for their support and encouragement.
Madam Speaker, having reached this stage, let no one of us fear to reflect on those "awkward and deepening truths" that confronts us on our daily basis, by honestly reflecting on those "truths" we will be better placed to address the developmental challenges of the country.
As Frantz Fanon once said, "Every generation out of relative obscurity discovers its mission; it either fulfils it or betrays it."
Madam Speaker, allow me to present the following documents for consideration by the house:
* The appropriation bill for 2010/11
* The explanatory memorandum to the Bill
* Budget statement one, two and three
* The budget booklet
* A copy of my speech.
Ke a leboga
Issued by: Department of Economic Development, Gauteng Provincial Government
2 March 2010
Source: Department of Economic Development, Gauteng Provincial Government (http://www.finance.gpg.gov.za/)
