The promises made by Mpumalanga’s MEC for Finance, Mr Bonakele Majuba, in his budget speech for the 2025/26 financial year cannot be executed due to the ANC government’s failed policy directions.
These policy directions include Affirmative Action (AA), in particular. The ANC also appears utterly unable to curb corruption and mismanagement in the province.
Financial pressure will compel the provincial government to reconsider some of its allocations of the total amount of R66,2 billion. Too much money is still earmarked for incomplete projects, such as the Mpumalanga International Fresh Produce Market and Performance Centre, which have been dragging on for years.
Mr Majuba set a provincial unemployment rate target of 25% in his Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP). To achieve that target, the province needs to create between 50 000 and 60 000 new and sustainable job opportunities annually for the next five years.
With the provincial unemployment rate currently standing at 34,7%, the aforementioned seems like an unattainable goal seeing as no plan detailing how it will be achieved was tabled.
The 2025 national fiscal framework allocates R369,7 million to the province this year and R1,2 billion over the medium-term expenditure framework.
A further R31 million, declared unspent in the 2024/25 financial year, was reallocated to the Departments of Economic Development and Tourism, Cooperative Governance, Human settlements and Traditional Affairs, and Community Safety, Security and Liaison.
Within the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA) baseline, R111,6 million is earmarked for the maintenance of nature reserves, and R118 million for tourism development and marketing initiatives.
The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) welcomes this seeing as tourism is the heartbeat of the province. Local nature reserves are in a terrible condition, while poaching and theft are at the order of the day.
Earmarking another R81 million for the controversial Performance Centre in Belfast is unacceptable, particularly because the project has seen no growth since 2011.
More than R300 million has already been spent on it with no sign of development or construction.
Funds should rather be spent on economic prerequisites, such as infrastructure development, to facilitate economic growth, job creation by the private sector and the eradication of poverty.
The province desperately needs service delivery; and ongoing projects need to be completed. So, the Freedom Front Plus condemns the allocation of R175 million for constructing a multi-purpose arena with 5 000 seats in the vicinity of the Mbombela Stadium.
Delays in ongoing projects annually result in misappropriation of the provincial budget.
The Premier, Mr Mandla Ndlovu, needs to take the lead in practically unlocking Mpumalanga’s potential for the people’s benefit.
The Freedom Front Plus will keep a close eye on expenditure in an effort to prevent any further squandering of funds.
