Central SA
Free State Treasury MEC to table budget─── TSHEHLA KOTELI 08:48 Thu, 16 Mar 2023
The Free State MEC responsible for Treasury, Gadija Brown, is on Thursday 16 March 2023 set to table the province’s budget at the Gariep Dam, near the town of Norvalspont, bordering the Free State and Eastern Cape provinces.
Brown happens to be one of the two MECs in the province who were able to retain their portfolios during the cabinet reshuffle. The other MEC is the MEC of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, Limakatso Mahasa.
Back to the budget, it has in the previous years been reported that the bulk of the government’s budget goes into employees’ salaries. In 2021, Brown said the salary bill constitutes 63% of the 2021/22 budget. While in 2022, Mahasa stated during the tabling of her budget, that the departmental employees' remuneration makes up the bulk of the department's budget. It will be confirmed later today if this is still an issue.
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The provincial Department of Treasury has since asked the public to send their suggestions about what they believe should be included in the budget for 2023/24.
It was reported in 2021 by OFM News that the Free State economy has been battered in the previous three years, averaging –2,7% growth. According to Brown, the province has been in recession since 2018, a matter of concern for them. In the previous year, she acknowledged the fiscal challenges faced by many of the municipalities in the province.
ALSO READ: Free State government continues to fight unemployment
Job creation is one of the challenges that are expected to be addressed today. The newly elected provincial premier, Mxolisi Dukwana, has since included in his State of the Province Address (Sopa) that at least 50 082 job opportunities have been created by the Provincial Government through the Expanded Public Works Programme.
The unemployment rate declined from 38.1% in the third quarter of 2021 to 33.8% in the third quarter of 2022. Dukwana stated that in the current financial year, 869 enterprises were provided with financial and non-financial support, of which 472 were youth-owned. The Free State Development Corporation provided financial support to 24 Small and Medium Enterprises, including 8 youth-owned Contractor Development Programme businesses. “We will undertake a substantial review of the current state of our public entities and reposition them to be proactive and responsive to the investment and development needs of the Free State economy.”
