The KwaZulu-Natal government has received a pat on the back in the form of an additional budget allocation from the National Treasury for spending its previous financial budget better than other provinces, finance MEC Francois Rodgers said.
Rodgers, delivering the provincial annual budget of R158 billion in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday, said the province’s good financial expenditure had resulted in Treasury allocating additional funding to it, including funds that were not spent by other provinces.
Prior to delivering his speech, Rodgers had received a memorandum from members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union, who were demanding that the national cabinet should not approve the VAT increase announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
In his budget speech, Rodgers said R100 million had been redirected to KwaZulu-Natal from the R200 million unspent in the Western Cape, R300 million from Gauteng and R50 million from the Free State.
“During the committee meeting, someone said R100 million is not a lot of money, but to me it is a lot of money,” he said.
He said R187 million, which the Limpopo province had failed to spend on education infrastructure, was now redirected to KwaZulu-Natal with the education department in the province now receiving a total of R2,5 billion.
“This has demonstrated the capabilities of the province of KwaZulu-Natal and a few departments to deliver effective service and therefore be able to receive additional funding where other provinces have failed to spend,” said Rodgers.
The biggest chunk of the province’s budget went to the Department of Education, which was allocated R66 billion, followed by health with R56 billion.
The Office of the Premier was allocated R817 million.
Rodgers said his department would allocate R2,1 million from its 2024/2025 compensation of employees and goods and services allocation for the financial recovery plan and e-procurement tools.
He said the provincial government had implemented the slashing of “nice to haves”, such as rental cars for staff, which would be replaced by the procurement of state-owned vehicles.
“When the GPU (Government of Provincial Unity) took office, the province was projecting to overspend in the region of R10 billion; with strict control measures and compliance, we have now reduced this to R4,9 billion,” he said.
He said his department was still awaiting approval for the acquisition and implementation of an e-procurement tool, which would put a stop to the overcharging of goods and services during the supply chain management and tender process.
In April 2025, the treasury will introduce dashboards where all departments will be able to monitor their creditors, debtors, cash balances, and projected expenditures.
“This will assist committees and members of the executive to effectively and simply monitor the financial position of the departments.
Provincial finance portfolio committee chairperson Mthandeni Dlungwane said he was happy that the allocations for various departments had increased.
He said the money that was allocated to the province from other provinces would go a long way in assisting these departments to carry out their service delivery mandate.
“The (money allocated to) education and human settlements is good news and shows that money that is allocated is being used effectively,” he said.
The Umkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) said Rodgers’s budget lacked commitment to growing the production sectors of the economy.
“We need to look further at key areas of improvement by the province to improve on, due to their value chain consequences, electricity, logistics, water, and financial services in the main.
“KZN is largely rural but so little has been allocated to agriculture and rural development, only 1,7% of the budget, which will not create jobs and grow the economy,” said MKP MPL Mervyn Dirks.