The MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism (Mpumalanga), Nompumelelo Hlophe tabled his Provincial Budget Speech on Tuesday.
Here are some quotes from her speech. The full speech will be placed later in the article.
- Our performance in the last five years exemplifies the potential of our country and province, our growth prospects, and our fiscal health in pursuit of these ideals.
- We are optimistic that our economy will rebound to at least 1 per cent in 2024. We expect the provincial growth rate to be around 2 per cent per annum from 2025 to 2027.
- However, as the Honourable Premier, Mrs Refilwe Mtshweni Tsipane, indicated in the State of the Province Address (SOPA) on 01 March 2024, “We are in the season of jobs, jobs, jobs, and more jobs.”
- The fourth quarter (2023) labour data shows almost 48,000 net job gains for the province.
- Over the past five years, the provincial government spent R259.6 billion towards employment, advancing inclusive education, health, economic development, and the fight against crime to mention a few.
- Our efforts were aimed to ensure that no one is left behind in the pursuit of a better life for all. The Province’s Own Revenue Collection is anticipated to grow by over 60 per cent from R1.5 billion in 2019/20 to R2.4 billion in 2023/24 (as the end of January 2024).
- The overall budget that we are tabling for the 2024/25 fiscal year is R61 billion 608 million 377 thousand, with 80.3 per cent coming from Equitable Share, 16.4 per cent from Conditional Grants, and 3.3 per cent from Provincial Own Revenue.
- The budget of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism amounts to R1 billion 413 million 528 thousand. Of this amount, R167.7 million is for completion of the Mpumalanga Fresh Produce Market project.
- Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs (DARDLEA) is allocated R1 billion 513 million 968 thousand. Included in this allocation: R54 million to operationalise the Mpumalanga Fresh Produce Market, and R73 million for Senteeko Tea Estate, which includes an agro-processing plant, and irrigation system for 140 hectares of land, amongst others.
- R32.4 million for the operationalisation of Mkhondo boarding school;
- R100 million towards the School of the Deaf and Blind.
- R30 million for the initial phase, planning and design of the state-of-the-art Arena. We will work with the National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture in this regard.
“The DA in Mpumalanga suspects that the Provincial Budget Speech which was tabled on Tuesday by MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Nompumelelo Hlophe, was another Fiscal Dumping from an ANC Administration that is aware that it may not come back,” said Bosman Grobler MPL – DA Spokesperson on Finance & Economic Development in a statement to the Bulletin.
“Though the DA welcomes budget increases in some departments, we are seriously concerned that the budget speech once again ignored the burning issues of electricity crises and sustainable job creation. We expected MEC Hlophe to make funding available to create alternatives for the 2,5 million Mpumalanga residents who are about to be directly and indirectly affected by the Just Energy Transition. According to the Journal of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, as Mpumalanga is moving towards Just Energy Transition, 5 Power Stations and 15 coal mines will be decommissioned by 2030 with 2,5 million residents (about the population of Texas) to be affected. We expected the MEC to dwell deeply in this matter as it will have serious consequences across the province; instead, she dumped millions of rands in projects that have been stagnant for years.”
The MEC dumped an extra R167,7 million for “completion of the Mpumalanga Fresh Produce Market, a project which started in 2013 and is envisaged to be completed in 2018. But it is now 2024, the Provincial Government has already spent over R2 billion on the construction of this project, a project which was initially supposed to have been completed in 2018 at less than R400 million. Surprisingly, the provincial government is still dumping more money on this project and the politically connected keep stalling the project to ensure more fines and bribes are paid.
The DA is also suspicious of the MEC’s sudden dumping of millions of rands to the School for the Blind and Deaf which is still a pipedream in the province 14 years later. The school was supposed to have been built in 2014, but there’s still nothing to show for it. So, it was a surprise to the DA today when MEC Hlophe announced that her department has allocated R100 million for this school. This is nothing but another fiscal dumping from the Mpumalanga Government as we suspect that this much-needed school will not be constructed anytime soon.
Another concern is that the Provincial Government continues to dump millions of taxpayers’ money on the Mkhondo Boarding School, a project that started in 2018 and to be completed within 18 months at an estimated cost of R200 million. Fast forward to March 2024, over R600 million has been spent on this boarding school’s construction. Now an extra R32,4 million is dumped on this project. How long are Mpumalanga taxpayers expected to fund projects that are left incomplete?
The DA has also noticed that MEC Hlophe did not specify how much has been allocated to the useless Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency (MEGA) which has been used for years as a cash cow for ANC Comrades. Instead, the MEC said that the R1.4 budget of the Department of Economic Development and Tourism includes allocations to entities like MEGA, the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator (MER), and the Mpumalanga Tourism & Parks Agency (MTPA).
The DA will not allow situations of fiscal dumping as we approach the National Elections when the departments and entities are supposed to be making a meaningful impact on the lives of Mpumalanga citizens. “We will closely monitor how every penny of the overall allocated budget of R61.6 billion is spent by provincial government departments and entities,” concluded Bosman
The FF+ was also very vocal in their response to the Provincial budget.
“The Mpumalanga MEC for Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, Ms Nompumelelo Hlophe, was merely paying lip service in her Budget Speech for the 2024/25 financial year when promising to curb corruption,” said Werner Weber FF Plus MPL and provincial leader: Mpumalanga, ”It cannot be executed due to the ANC government’s failed policy directions; especially Affirmative Action (AA). The ANC is utterly unable to curb corruption and mismanagement in the province.”
Financial pressure will compel government to reconsider certain allocations from the total budget of R61,1 billion.
Too much money is still squandered on senseless and incomplete projects, such as the Mpumalanga international fresh produce market which has been dragging on for years.
A large portion of the budget is allocated to the Department of Health (R18,6 billion). However, this Department could not manage to stock enough medicine, appoint enough medical staff, or provide proper healthcare services with its previous budgetary allocation.
It is not so much a matter of insufficient funds as the misappropriation of those funds. The FF Plus will keep a close eye on this Department to prevent the squandering of any more money.
The Department of Sport, Arts and Culture was allocated a whopping R652,4 million even though it is severely mismanaged with hundreds of millions in tax money being squandered on senseless projects, such as the incomplete performance centre and cultural hub.
More funds should have been allocated to economic necessities, such as infrastructure development, to facilitate economic growth, job creation by the private sector and the eradication of poverty.
The province needs to have proper service delivery, complete its current projects and, most importantly, start saving water.
Mpumalanga’s largest industries, namely forestry, mining and agriculture, are all thirsty activities.
Old mines, in particular, cause problems by polluting groundwater.
So, Mpumalanga should conserve its water, and build additional dams and new water treatment plants.
Several local municipalities are struggling to supply water and things will only get worse.
As a province, Mpumalanga may have many challenges, but it also has abundant potential. The ruling ANC, however, lacks the political will to unlock this potential for the benefit of all its residents.
Mpumalanga deserves better than the ANC.
