No extra funding without due process, warns Rodgers
The KwaZulu-Natal Finance MEC has warned any
requests for additional funding from departments will be denied unless due
process is followed.
Francois Rodgers addressed industry leaders at a post-budget event hosted by SANLAM in Durban on Wednesday morning.
"I've been told that any MEC of Finance who is popular is not doing their job, so I shall remain unpopular.
"And the Grinch who stole Christmas when I told government departments people must pay for their own Christmas parties. There are no Christmas parties being funded."
Rodgers tabled the R158 billion budget for the province in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday.
READ: eThekwini allocates extra R2m to tackle water woes
Health and Education have received increased allocations, with the MEC saying it’s meant to help relieve some of the funding pressures in the two departments.
Infrastructure has also been prioritised, with more than half of the R18.2 billion allocated going towards maintaining existing assets.
Rodgers said for other provinces, R158 billion is an enormous amount of money.
He said it's small for KZN if one considers the province's economy, unemployment rate, and poverty rate.
"One of the first things I started was looking at fiscal discipline in terms of legislation. It's a problem. We have technocrats, and I'm afraid politicians who believe that the money that they're allocated is therefore their benefit and not for the benefit of people," said the MEC.
ALSO READ: KZN school nutrition needs 'tighter' financial oversight
"And we had some appetite for change, but I'm saddened to say that it's not the change we wanted, but that is a task that I'm prepared to undertake.
"I have the premier's full support in being the champion of us, ensuring that every single rand that we spend goes towards our main priorities."
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