2019 Free State provincial budget speech Hon. Elzabe Rockman, MEC for Finance
Honourable Speaker
Honourable Premier
Members of the Executive Council
Members of the FS Legislature
Executive Mayors and Mayoral Committee Members
Director-General, Heads of Departments, Chairpersons and CEOs of our Public Entities
The Provincial Business Executive of the Office of the Auditor General Moremoholo Mopeli, Principal Traditional Leader and other traditional leaders Distinguished guests,
I wish to make special mention of the educators and learners from the schools who participated in our annual essay competition. They represent the St Bernard Secondary School from Bloemfontein, Phiritona Secondary School from Heilbron, Setjhaba-se-Maketse Combined School from Botshabelo, Wongalethu Secondary School in Bethulie and the Relebohile-Sibulele Secondary School in Smithfield.
We appreciate the opportunity to table the Free State provincial budget for the
2019/2020 financial year as we approach the end of the 5th administration. This year we again have the opportunity to strengthen and defend our democracy through our participation in the national and provincial elections scheduled to take place on the 8th of May. Each of us has a role to play in ensuring the success of 2019’s general elections.
The electoral season inspires ordinary citizens to escalate their participation in our democratic processes starting from voter registration, updating of registration details up to casting their votes. The thousands of volunteers who work tirelessly on the election campaigns of political parties are the modern-day heroes of our democracy in action. Equally, so are the men and women of the Electoral Commission of South Africa who are tasked to ensure that the environment and infrastructure are in place to facilitate free and fair elections. Let us all publicly commit to ensure that we support the work of the Electoral Commission.
Hon. Speaker, certain developments in the local government sphere also require our attention today. We welcome the appointment of the new Municipal Demarcation Board last week. The Free State is well represented in the board through Mr. Thabo Manyoni, who will be the chairperson, as well as Dr. David Mohale. These individuals have the required knowledge and experience to ensure that the Board executes its mandate.
Allow me to also congratulate the hon. Mathabo Leeto on her election as the President of the South African National Civics Organisation (SANCO) over the past weekend. The voice of SANCO as an effective and vibrant reflection of civic society is essential for our democracy.
Today we return to the Xhariep district to fulfil the commitment that we made in 2017 when we first presented our provincial budget speech here. We indicated then that the provincial budget speech will be hosted here until the end of the fifth administration. This decision was not the result of some sentimental idiosyncrasy towards the Xhariep district. We recognized that the Xhariep district traditionally holds the smallest share of the provincial budget. The dynamics of this district, specifically its huge geographical area, low population numbers and its exposure to climatic conditions, are key contributing factors to the stubborn prevalence of unemployment, poverty and inequality. Its potential in economic sectors such as tourism, solar energy and agriculture remain largely unexplored. We therefore intentionally put Xhariep in the forefront of the conscience of decision makers when it comes to decisions around resource allocations and implementation of departmental mandates.
During the recent State of the Nation Address and the State of the Province Address, the hon. President and the hon. Premier respectively reflected on the successes and shortcomings of the first 25 years of democratic governance. The fifth administration has demanded a focused effort to implement our commitment to meaningfully improve the lives of our people when the availability of resources have continued to decline.
Midway through the current administration, we stated that; “There is no guarantee that the road ahead will be any less strenuous. The only guarantee is that there will be new and differing challenges to the ones that we faced yesterday and today.” The end of the fifth administration has brought us to this moment that the hon. Premier characterized as; “…the moment of hope and the age of courage.” Those are the characteristics that will strengthen and support the sixth administration that will be formed after the 8 May general elections.
The 2019 Medium Term Expenditure Framework require of us to continue to consolidate our fiscal environment through various means in the next financial year in order to maximize on the opportunities presented in the two outer years of the MTEF period.
Full Speech: Free State Budget Speech 2019/2020
