City gets R9-billion from the 2017-2018 provincial Budget

08 March 2017

 

The City of Johannesburg is to get a sizeable share of the R108-billion Gauteng Provincial Government’s 2017-2018 Budget to assist it in achieving its service delivery objectives.

 

Delivering her Budget speech in the Gauteng Legislature on Tuesday March 7, MEC for Finance Barbara Creecy said the City had been allocated R9-billion to, among other things, enhance service delivery in district hospitals, community health clinics and community-based centres.

MEC Creecy said of this amount, R2.8-billion would be spent on the Central Development Corridor.

“The Department of Health will build the new Finetown Clinic, renovate staff residences at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, continue with the construction of the new Lillian Ngoyi Hospital, upgrade the Helen Joseph Hospital and convert Discoverers and Lenasia South community health centres into district hospitals,” said MEC Creecy.

She further announced that part of the Budget allocation would be used to upgrade the Finetown East phase 2 informal settlement. She said most of the provincial government revenue was collected from motor vehicle licences, gambling taxes, patient fees and interest earned on Treasury investments.

MEC Creecy praised municipalities, including the City of Johannesburg, saying it was equally pleasing that they all had achieved unqualified audits, many for the first time. “This was achieved through a sustained partnership between provincial and municipal government to turn around the financial outcomes, particularly in Westonaria and Randfontein.”

She said last year the province was able to save R386-imillion in relation to fruitless and wasteful expenditure by reducing interests paid on overdue accounts. “We have saved R414-million by cutting back on catering, accommodation and corporate branding, and redirecting the resources to the core business of government,” said MEC Creecy.

She said her office was also determined to root out fraud and corruption in all government programmes. MEC Creecy said the Treasury had over the past year re-engineered forensic services to enable the provincial government to:

• Reduce case backlog by two thirds;
• Improve in the implementation of recommendations, resulting in 125 employees facing disciplinary action;
• Implement a centralised case management system;
• Build a forensic laboratory with digital forensic tools to assist government investigations; and
• Recruit forensic investigators and train existing staff with the support of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.