By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has issued a warning – tight budgets and lost foreign aid are pushing the province into uncertain times.
Winde delivered his State of the Province Address (SOPA) at the NG Church Hall in Beaufort West on Wednesday evening.
“We have to step up more than ever before,” said Winde, calling on leaders and residents to meet present challenges.
“As I make this speech, we are in very uncertain times – no clarity on our Budget…” he said, referring to the postponement of the national Budget over the contested VAT increase from 15% to 17%.
Touching on global affairs, with a nod to the impact of Donald Trump’s US presidency, Winde said: ” International markets are in distress and elections are resulting in massive policy shifts across the world. Aid is being cut and free trade is being replaced by trade barriers and tariffs.”
The premier said while he thought about the negatives, there were also opportunities, such as the G20 and associated business meeting, the B20, being hosted in South Africa.
He noted how he had been “sitting in those B20 meetings, understanding that the world is in turmoil and talking about how business is going to find its way in this new, uncertain environment”.
Winde said the province would stand “against the attempts to reshape the world in a paradigm of might is right… It seems that the very foundations of democracy are at risk, and we must make sure that we stand for what is right.”
Winde highlighted projects under way, including infrastructure builds and efforts to promote energy security. He also praised the Western Cape’s unemployment rate of 19.6%, the lowest in the country.
“In the last quarter, jobs came up. This province was responsible for another 62 000 new jobs. That’s 62 000 new jobs out of a total of 132 000 jobs created in our country, and that’s nearly half of all the new jobs in SA. These are not just numbers; they represent residents who are part of our economy,” he said.
Winde said the province is committed to reducing unemployment and ensuring economic opportunities for its residents.
He said a “critical part” of the Presidency’s Operation Vulindlela had to be to “dramatically improve” the performance of the port and develop other ports such as Saldanha and Mossel Bay.
“We are facilitating the establishment of a task team comprising multiple stakeholders, among them Wesgro and Transnet National Ports Authority, to develop solutions to operational challenges in and around the Port of Cape Town,” said Winde.
He confirmed the province was meeting Transport Minister Barbara Creecey to help get the port on track, but also called for private-sector collaboration.
Winde said: “While government funding is being squeezed, our residents are also struggling to make ends meet… We are all feeling the squeeze of escalating food, electricity and fuel prices.”
Provincial budget cuts had forced a shortfall in frontline services, particularly in education.
The Western Cape has faced a R3.8-billion budget shortfall partly because it received only 64% of the nationally negotiated wage agreement for public workers from the national government.
“Ongoing budget cuts – driven by a growing national fiscal crisis – have left us with far less funding than we need to maintain our recognised high standard of service delivery and to support our most vulnerable residents,” said Winde.
He said that while the Government of National Unity (GNU) was beginning to address some of the challenges inherited from previous administrations, those challenges remained, and the next few years would be difficult for the country.
Meanwhile Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane has outlined the broad plan for the seventh administration highlighting three interrelated priorities that he said would accelerate the realisation of the Provincial Development Plan.
Mabuyane said these priorities were inclusive growth and job creation, reducing poverty and tackling the high cost of living, and “a capable, ethical, agile, and developmental state”.
In a wide-ranging speech, he noted that in the past five years, the province secured investments worth R200 billion.
Mabuyane said this is the baseline to get more investors to the province in the next five years.
“Having said that, the global economy remains gloomy, and the Eastern Cape is not immune from the structural and geo-political effects.
“The provincial economic growth currently stands at 2.1%, which is still below the set target of 2.8% in 2025.
“Our initiatives to drive economic growth to the desired levels include redirecting equitable share allocations to productive economic activities, and prioritizing the frontiers of growth, namely; agriculture, manufacturing, oceans economy, digital economy, and tourism.