The Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal welcomed the funding given to the province but was not happy with MEC Belinda Scott’s distribution of the funds across the various provincial departments.
“We welcome the R96billion equitable share allocation from the National Treasury that was tabled in the legislature today. Although the funding will not be sufficient to address the many pressing issues faced by the citizens of KwaZulu-Natal, we are thankful and urge the government to utilise the funding in such a manner that it will benefit the poorest of the poor. While listening to the Budget Speech by MEC Scott, I was concerned that not enough attention was paid to addressing the number of service delivery protests that are taking place across our province. People in many municipalities are dissatisfied with the poor service delivery they are subjected to and I believe that this should have been considered when distributing our funds,” said IFP Leader in the KZN Legislature, Hon Blessed Gwala MPL
“While the MEC spoke about cost-cutting measures, there was no indication of how this will be implemented and in which areas of government expenditure. As in the past this was spoken of but not implemented. The Budget Speech did not take into account the plight of the people, but seemed more inclined towards the ANC’s ego and selfish ends. We will be monitoring how departments spend their allocations and will ensure that public funds that are meant for our people is not used in the ANC’s local government election campaign. If the allocated budget is well managed and utilised for its intended purpose, it will benefit our people across the province”, concluded Hon Gwala.
