Thulisile Mapongwana
Eastern Cape Finance MEC Mlungisi Mvoko says the economic growth prospects for the province remain moderate, with growth expected to fluctuate but gradually improve over the medium term.
The growth forecast for the rest of the current financial year stands at 0.7% while the forecast for the next two fiscal years is 1.5% and 1.7% respectively.
Mvoko said the growth outlook is supported by the expected easing of power cuts as new energy projects begin production.
He said this will be further supported by lower inflation, as well as credit extensions.
In tabling a budget of R95.4 billion rand, Mvoko allocated the lion’s share of R42.4 billion to the provincial Education Department for the 2024/25 financial year.
The Department of Health got R30.1 billion while the Department of Transport pocketed over R5.7 billion with a total of R2.2 billion allocated to the provision of scholar transport.
Mvoko said the Education and Transport Departments needed to improve governance and efficiency in providing credible data on kilometres, routes, and the capacity of vehicles.
He made a provision in the budget that will enable more learners to access scholar transport services next year, from the current 90,000 to 103,000.
He said also called out his cabinet colleagues, saying that while he did not have hard facts, it was agreed to allocate funding to accommodate the increase in the number of learners accessing scholar transport services.
Transport MEC Xolile Nqatha said he was pleased with the budget allocation, and welcomed the provincial increase in the road maintenance grant by more than half a billion.
Meanwhile, DA’s Yusuf Cassim says the budget is not nearly enough as learners in need of scholar transport exceed 144,000.
"We welcome the R725 million that has been allocated to Scholar Transport for the 2024/25 financial year, but note that the Provincial Treasury has recommended that overspending of R131.6 million from the 2022/23 financial year be withheld from that budget allocation," he noted.
Cassim also said the reality that 66% of the entire budget is spent on public wages shows that this is a “cadre-budget instead of a job-creating budget” as the unemployment rate in the fourth quarter of 2023 stood at 41.9%.
There were no game changers in the budget for load-shedding resilience to shield businesses and households from the impacts of power cuts.
Meanwhile, EFF provincial chairperson, Zilindile Vena, lamented the lack of funds for Human Settlements which was allocated just over R2.3 billion, while scoffing at the MEC’s comments on road infrastructure when he said the government was doing well in building road networks.
He said the SA National Roads Agency Limited, Sanral, is mainly responsible for the road infrastructure.
“They did not give money to human settlements as they knew they do not have the capacity to provide houses. Young graduates who are social workers and doctors are also unemployed yet the budget for Social Development is R2.9 billion.”
Vena said the budget allocation exposed “incapacity.” He said in the past five years there has been no leadership and proper planning.”
