The North West MEC for Finance, Kenetswe Mosenogi, says R55,7 billion has been allocated for this financial year. This money is geared towards addressing the government’s priorities, including fiscal prudence, economic revitalisation, and sustainable development.
MEC Mosenogi’s budget has also outlined plans to better capacitate municipalities and strengthen the provincial economy while tackling unemployment and infrastructure challenges.
The bulk of province’s budget has been allocated to the Department of Health and the Department Public Works, and Roads, highlighting the province’s focus on improving healthcare services and infrastructure development.
This is MEC Mosenogi’s second budget speech which outlines the province’s allocation and plans to bolster infrastructure development, jobs creation and poverty alleviation.
“Honourable Speaker, the budget proposals being tabled today are aimed at responding to the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) which is at the centre of planning for the government. The budget allocated for 2025/26 financial year is R55,740 billion which is geared towards addressing the priorities of government as set out above,” says Mosenogi.
The MEC says the bulk of the budget is allocated to the Department of Health, Public Works, and Roads.
“A budget of R44,435 billion is allocated to the social cluster departments to enable sector departments to contribute to the reduction of poverty and to tackle the high cost of living in line with the MTDP priority. Within this cluster, the Department of Health is allocated R17,040 billion to render accessible, equitable and client orientated healthcare services,”
However, opposition parties are critical of the budget, with many questioning whether the allocated funds would be enough to address long-standing issues.
“As the province, we are facing unprecedented levels of unemployment and the budget allocated to the relevant departments that can rescue the situation. Today, the MEC for Finance still speaks about creating 5,500 temporary jobs and also in the areas of construction. Those people are always paid late. They are never proper incentives,” says Fanon Moema from EFF.
“In terms of the housing, in terms of the infrastructure, in terms of job creation, we haven’t got a lot of successes there. The three job creation strategies that they did mention are all temporary jobs,” says Wolgang Wallhorn from DA.
Others questioned whether these ambitious plans would translate into real change for the people of the province.
“If you look holistically at the budget, there is not a lot of money getting to the ground. But 64% of the budget is being spent on salaries that before it’s divided to your entities and so forth. So, a total of more or 70% of the budget goes for salaries in the province,” says Michal Groenewald from Freedom Front Plus.
“It’s not good for the Department of Public Works and Roads to have been given less budget because you check in terms of rural infrastructure and the rural farming where most of the people are creating jobs, roads are in bad conditions but there are budget cuts. Do we expect infrastructural development in terms of roads in this particular province? No! The situation will remain the same,” says Lerato Teme from the MK Party.
It remains to be seen if the budget presented will bring much-needed improvements to the livelihood of residents in the province.
Video: NW province has no concrete plans for the unprecedented levels of unemployment: EFF
