North West Budget: All Talk and No Substance

Today with her annual budget speech, North West MEC for Finance Ms Kenetshwe Mogenosi, tabled a budget filled with ideologically driven promises, but very little substance or concrete development strategies, to the Provincial Legislature.

Much was made of the provincial government’s expressed intention to restore local government as well as restore residents’ faith in their municipalities. It is not reflected in the budget, though.

A mere R10 million is earmarked for launching “capacity restoring programmes” in municipalities even though it is no secret that North West municipalities have reached an advanced level of decline.

Mogenosi stated that the Provincial Treasury’s Infrastructure Management Unit will be strengthened to improve oversight of municipalities’ management of infrastructure projects.

She added that contractors will henceforth be held accountable for poor service delivery and failure to meet their contractual obligations.

This comes against the backdrop of many similar promises made in the past and an established culture of impunity and tender corruption in North West cultivated by tenderpreneurs and their cohorts in local and provincial administrations over the course of decades. This was once again confirmed before the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, where municipal corruption amounting to R332 million was exposed.

It is shocking that it has taken the ANC government thirty years to realise that these practices cannot be tolerated and must be stopped.

She also stated that the provincial government will focus on economic development at local and provincial level. Yet only R1 billion out of a total budget of R59,8 billion is allocated to the Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism (DEDECT).

Despite knowing full well that the poor road conditions in North West is one of the biggest obstacles to effective economic development in the province, a mere R115 million is budgeted for road maintenance.

This state of affairs has already led to enormous disinvestment in the province, but it appears that the ANC government lacks the necessary insight or political will to acknowledge the extent of the damage or to recognise the need for urgent remedial action.

It is clear that the ANC government in North West does not have the ability to develop or implement a viable economic recovery strategy.

Based on the general themes and empty promises in Mosenogi’s Budget Speech, it is evident that her address simply forms part of a greater smokescreen for the ANC’s election strategy, which relies heavily on continually misleading voters.

The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) will keep exposing the ANC government’s transparent and superficial attempts to deceive the people of North West.

Freedom Front Plus Environmental Policy: The FF Plus supports sustainable environmental practices.

Read More at the Source