Thalia Holmes
Gauteng province’s Finance MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko delivered something akin to a chastisement of the “black elite” in her maiden budget speech on Thursday.
Quoting the erudite policy czar Joel Netshitenzhe, the province’s first black female finance MEC said: “Most black professionals nowadays belong, at once, in the binary settings of opulence and wretchedness. To ensure the gold at the end of the rainbow does not turn into mirage, professionals need to relate their narrow interests to the broader aspirations of society.”
In pursuit of a new society, said Nkomo-Ralehoko, the ultimate ambition of black professionals cannot be to mimic white elite lifestyles.
Otherwise, she said, quoting the ANC stalwart, “empowerment will merely complement white entitlement to historical privilege.”
The essence of her message was that in creating a new future, South Africans must harness a new way of enjoying success; one that creates a tide of prosperity for generations to follow.
And, by focusing budget allocations on key areas in health, education, social development in the province, one could argue her budget aimed to do the same.
The Gauteng budget was increased by R10 billion compared to the previous financial year.
Given the financial constraints of the day, with the country’s GDP having contracted by 0.6% and 1.4% in the third and fourth quarters of 2019 respectively, this was not insignificant.
Of this, the Gauteng Department of Health received R46-million (constituting 46% of overall budget) while the Department of Education received R18-million (or 18% of overall budget).
Some of the big ticket items included:
In health
- R3.1 billion will go towards the broadening of access towards quality healthcare over the next three years. Of this amount, R1.6 billion will be used to strengthen District Health Services, in particular the extension of 24-hour services in all 32 Community Health Centres; and
- R1.5 billion in the medium term is allocated to mental health services within public hospitals.
In education
- R2.5 billion in the medium term will go towards implementing Early Childhood Development such as “universalising” Grade R and piloting Grade RR, in an effort to improve foundation phase learning in the country;
- R155 million over the next three years is allocated for the improvement of literacy and numeracy across all grades;
- Almost R1-billion in the medium term is allocated to schools of specialisation, in order to produce skills required by the economy;
In infrastructure
- R200 million goes towards the Tshwane Automotive Zone, augmenting what the City of Tshwane will be contributing to the project;
- The Tourism and Hospitality Sector will receive a cumulative R40 million over the medium term, in order to invest in tourism infrastructure, and support new investment opportunities relating to tourism;
- – A total of R157 million will be allocated to the taxi industry over the next three years. “This will go a long way in bringing affordable, reliable and integrated public transport closer to residential and industrial areas, and introducing a single-ticketing system between buses, taxis and trains and improving intermodal facilities,” said the MEC.
Job creation takes a backseat allocation-wise
Nkomo-Ralehoko described the budget speech as “the culmination of tough decisions that have had to be made”, and the budget allocations reflect this. To this end, one could argue that not enough is being done to stimulate job creation.
In the 2020/21 budget allocation breakdown for the Growing Gauteng Together (GGT) plan, R22.9 billion is allocated to the Education, Skills Revolution and Health imperative, while the Economy, Jobs and Infrastructure priority receives only R1.4 billion.
This is significantly less than the Safety, Social Cohesion and Food Security priority, which receives R2.6-billion, and less than half of the R5.26 billion that is allocated for Integrated Human Settlements and Land Release.
While economic activity will be stimulated through infrastructure efforts, little detail was provided about significant steps to be made directly in the area of job creation.
The MEC did make reference to the introduction of Special Economic Zones to boost manufacturing, increase exports and jobs, and a cumulative incubation programme to provide skills and jobs in various sectors including furniture, artisans, chemical, pharmaceuticals, and mining.
However, given that the finance MEC’s speech was given in the wake of the recession news, in light of an almost 30% unemployment rate, and the fact that Gauteng contributes about 35% of the country’s overall gross domestic product, some might expect to see the urgency of job creation and economic revival to be better reflected in the numbers.
Added to the global headwinds faced by many emerging economies, the recent threat of Covid-19 adds the possibility of further economic struggle.
“Downwards revisions to global economic growth would also lower SA’s growth forecast for this year,” said Investec economist Annabel Bishop on the afternoon of the Gauteng budget speech.
“A global recession would necessitate a more severe downwards revision to South Africa’s expected case economic outlook.”
Walking the talk
In her speech, Nkomo-Ralehoko placed accountability for the economic success of the province squarely on the shoulders of the black middle class.
“For this plan to work, black professionals are at the centre of the innovation, capability and organising skills required to ensure the success of building this Gauteng we dream about,” she said.
She put an emphasis on accountability in various guises throughout the speech.
For example, infrastructure projects will be subject to performance reviews to “ensure that projects are completed on time, within budget and meeting reasonable quality standards.”
She also “welcomed” lifestyle audits for supply chain and human resources officials that were recently introduced by the Premier.
Ian Cruickshanks, chief economist at the South African Institute of Race Relations, said that, while these steps were encouraging, they were not enough to meet the real governance issues facing the country. In his opinion, South Africa “needs a national change of attitude in order for funds to stop being misappropriated and corruption to end.”
But according to the MEC, these attempts to increase transparency show that “when it comes to fighting fraud and corruption and promoting a clean public service, this province is taking bold steps beyond the financial disclosures.”
Now, with her first budget speech behind her and a struggling economy to contend with, the provincial executive should lead by example and do the same.
