Summary of Premier Alan Winde’s 2025 Budget Vote Speech

As a country we are accustomed to having to do more with less, because unfortunately, too often I believe national government has not prioritised critical service delivery areas. In South Africa, we do not have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem. This is far from ideal, when the needs out there are so severe, but it is the reality of our current fiscal environment and budgets. Therefore, we cannot avoid it and must remain agile and innovative in how we do our work and spend our budgets.

Every household in South Africa knows what it means to stretch a Rand further than before. They have had to adjust, to innovate, to make tough decisions. As a government, we are no different. But while others make excuses, we offer solutions. Our duty is not just to do more with less—it’s to make every cent work smarter, driving real impact where it matters most.

But we do this with one non-negotiable front of mind: we must spend every Rand and cent of our residents’ money responsibly, with our apex priorities, as outlined in the Provincial Strategic Plan 2025-30, guiding us towards strong, sustainable growth that creates jobs, and equips our residents with the skills and support they need to get those jobs.

Faced with lacklustre national economic growth and an unwillingness to prioritise spending on service delivery and kickstarting the economy, compounded by the ever-increasing cost of living, marked by soaring electricity tariffs and shrinking tax revenue, the national Finance Minister is resorting to wildly unpopular moves such as hiking VAT, to balance the books. This is a flagrant display of a national administration completely out of touch with the reality that many ordinary residents must live in. This is dangerous and unconscionable, made more pronounced by dramatic geopolitical shifts, a disturbing global lurch towards pernicious populism and internecine, corrosive trade wars. We cannot hide from the fact that we are facing significant headwinds in the next few years. Too many of our residents are already buckling. They look to us for solutions, and I am pleased to report that we have them. As accustomed as we have become to proverbially tightening our belts and doing the best with what we have, this government has proven that even amid formidable challenges, we still prevail due to our resilience and commitment to our residents.

Seizing opportunities

With South Africa holding the presidency of the G20 this year, we have a key opportunity to demonstrate to the rest of the world that our country can punch above its weight. Through the G20 and the B20 engagements, our province can showcase what is possible when you do things differently.

This year, South Africa takes the global stage as the G20 host, and with it, the Western Cape has a once-in-a-generation opportunity. With R20 million allocated to supporting G20 initiatives , we will not sit in the shadows—we will lead. We will showcase how the Western Cape is an example of investment-ready governance, a province that innovates despite constraints, and a partner that global investors can trust in the fight for clean, affordable reliable energy, sustainable job creation, and economic stability.

In 2025, we will host the Regional Leaders Summit – yet another opportunity for us to work closer together with other states and provinces abroad that share our priorities.

And in November, we will hold our inaugural Investment Summit. With a target of securing R1 billion in investments through this summit, the Western Cape will fully leverage this event, showing the world that we are an investment oasis that has already secured 296 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects, bringing in more than R171 billion into our economy. We must keep nurturing our partnerships, domestic and international, constantly seeking out opportunities. Their success is our success.

We know that if we are to change South Africa’s trajectory, we have to invest in enabling more investment, not strangling it. There is a clear alternative to addressing the serious fiscal challenges facing this country: introduce the urgent structural reforms our economy needs to grow.

There are promising signs that national government has finally come to the realisation that to boost our economy, we must radically overhaul our logistics sector. I welcome the move by Transport Minister Barbara Creecy to initiate a Request for Information to attract private investment into rail and ports. We must urgently  implement this to its conclusion: revitalising our rail network to ensure safe and affordable public transport; and further open up our harbours and ports to the world. We will support any measure to bring our rail network back to life. One way we can do this is through devolution.

Good Governance is a habit

Good governance is not just a principle, it is a promise we keep every single day. Beyond the unqualified audits, good governance means transparency, accountability, and a commitment to serving the people. It’s about creating systems that foster trust and integrity, ensuring that every decision made is for the betterment of society. It is a continuous process of self-reflection and improvement, where leaders and residents alike work together to build a stronger, more resilient province. In this government, good governance is not an isolated event—it is ingrained in every action, every policy, and every relationship.

It is how we grow our economy, create jobs, and uplift communities. And it is the reason why, despite national setbacks, the Western Cape continues to step up and move forward.

Turning to the spending priorities of the Department of the Premier, our main budget for 2025/26 is R2.012 billion. Compared with the 2024/25 Adjusted Budget, the overall budget decrease is 4,3 percent, which is mainly due to an additional allocation for Microsoft licensing software in 2024/25.

Energising our growth

Earmarked funding of R36.7 million will go towards boosting our energy security. This department will continue to focus on the core initiatives such as the Demand Side Management Programme, Municipal Pooled Buying and the Western Cape Integrated Resource Plan – key components of the Western Cape Energy Resilience plan.

Of course, energy is not the mandate of a provincial government. Does this mean we stand by idly and expect solutions to the power crisis to be delivered to us by the likes of Eskom? Do we simply hope for the best and be lulled into a false sense of energy security only to have load-shedding blindside us? No! We have enabled and empowered private sector partners and our municipalities to deliver 1,000MW of non-Eskom power to our province’s network in 20204, with another 1,000MW in the pipeline for this year. We are firmly on track to meet – even beat – our target of enabling the generation of 5,700MW by 2035.

Bringing our government closer to our residents

Our residents are currently able to access 82 WCG eCentres, where they can access internet services for free and are provided with digital skills development opportunities, they need to further their studies, start a business or find a job.

It is through investments like this that the Western Cape has the lowest unemployment rate in the country

We intend to increase these access points to 85 over the medium term. Last year we took our service footprint a step further with our mobile eCentre, which criss-crosses the province’s rural areas, bringing some of our digital services closer to communities.

This government is an open government. We have 15 digital channels through which our residents can access to government information and services, and our total number of public Wi-Fi hotspots has increased to 1,600.

We have successfully concluded the Broadband 2.0 contract.  This enables us to extend our footprint across the province from 1,914 to 2150, connected sites by the end of the 2025 MTEF period.

Here are some of the benefits derived from our Broadband investment:

• Communication infrastructure has reached distant rural areas/sites that were otherwise not commercially feasible to connect.
• Broadband is the foundation for the WCED’s entire e-learning initiative.
• Broadband enables applications in the Health sector:

(a) ECCR (Electronic Continuity of Care Record) – a web-based patient discharge summary which is accessible throughout the province. A doctor at a different hospital can access a summary of digital records on a patient.

(b) PACS-RIS (Picture Archiving and Communication System – Radiology Information System)- a digital x-ray system which enables hospitals to x-ray patients and send these images anywhere in the world.

• Access to various services for the benefit of residents visiting our libraries and museums.
• Stimulating general economic growth and improved job opportunities across the Province.

The expansion of the digital ecosystem makes our information security risk landscape more complex, though. The department’s information security and risk management teams focus on effective risk prevention and mitigation during this time when cyber-attacks have become more complex and occur at a higher frequency. In response to this risk, the department has identified investment in tools that enable automated detection and prevention of intrusions, as well as recovery and containment, as a key priority.

More funding has been made available for the reconfiguration of the Provincial Training Institute (PTI) to become a world-leading hub for public sector learning, development, and innovation.

We remain under significant pressure from a Compensation of Employee perspective.  While we have been able to drive down budget deficits on staff costs over the years, this remains a precarious, careful balancing act. Only properly motivated critical posts are filled.

Serious budget risks are linked to nationally negotiated wage agreements, and we have seen the impact of this already across our core services.

Conclusion

We do not dwell on obstacles; we build opportunities. Through good governance, transparent budgeting, and an unrelenting focus on economic growth, we continue to drive investment, create jobs, and provide essential services—efficiently and effectively.

No matter the circumstances, it is this government and department’s singular obsession to keep striving to serve the residents of this great province.

It is only through certainty and a credible fiscal environment that we will be able to confront the challenges we face.

We have our roadmap—the Provincial Strategic Plan 2025-30. We have our resources, carefully allocated for maximum impact. Now, the responsibility is ours: to act decisively, to push forward with purpose, and to show our residents—not just tell them—that good governance is not just a principle, but a promise we keep every single day.

I cannot do this alone, though. It is through the daily and indefatigable dedication of my colleagues, the thousands of Western Cape Government officials, and the residents of this great province that we have been able to achieve what we set out to do. Our job is far from complete! We will keep encountering stubborn challenges, which will require us to step up and keep working as hard as we can to grow our economy together to create many more jobs.