Premier MaQueen Letsoha-Mathae has tabled a substantial budget of R633.57 million for the 2025/26 financial year for her office, noting her administration’s commitment to institutional transformation, inclusive development, and responsive governance.

Delivering her departmental Budget Vote 1 in the Fourth Raadsaal in Bloemfontein on Tuesday (15/4), Letsoha-Mathae outlined the financial allocations across four key programmes, with the bulk of funding going towards institutional development.

Programme 1, focusing on administration, has been allocated R110.96 million. Programme 2, Institutional Development, received the lion’s share with R270.46 million, followed by Programme 3 for Policy and Planning with R79.59 million. Programme 4, which covers a range of strategic provincial initiatives, has been allocated R172.56 million.

Letsoha-Mathae emphasised that the budget will be driven by the national medium-term strategic framework, aligning with goals such as economic inclusion, job creation, poverty reduction, and the high cost of living.

She positioned the current administration as one committed to high-impact service delivery. “These strategic priorities symbolise the seventh administration’s vision of leading the province towards service excellence,” she stated.

A strong emphasis was placed on the administrative capabilities of the transparent, unified, and accountable government. “In our quest to meet the demands and expectations of our people, we are in a process to define our systems, methods and execution.

“The critical posts of the director-general, and heads of the departments of Social Development, Agriculture and Rural Development, and Economic, Small Business Development and Tourism have been advertised,” she said.

Letsoha-Mathae had previously received backlash after reshuffling HODs in the province when opposition parties questioned whether these changes would usher in stability or merely rearrange the deck chairs without substantive improvement.

However, Letsoha-Mathae argued that the movement of HODs from one department to another should be seen as an opportunity to leverage their success in different areas, rather than a reflection of their performance. She maintained that the reshuffling aims to inject new perspectives and drive progress across the provincial government.

In response to the tabling of her budget, FF Plus MPL Armand Cloete said: “It would be easy to stand here and remind this House that the premier and her husband are under investigation by the Hawks for alleged corruption. Or to mention that this department’s budget is nearly double that of the Free State Legislature.

“Or that R108 million is being spent on community development workers – whose function remains unclear – and who, by the previous director-general’s own admission, are merely political deployments … But I won’t dwell on that today.”

‘Not one Free State municipality made the list’

He said he’d rather focus on a tangible reality, asking whether the national government – or the ANC – had given up on the Free State? “Earlier this week, in response to a question in the National Assembly, the Deputy President listed municipalities considered service delivery hotspots.

“Not one Free State municipality made the list. Are we to believe that not a single municipality in this province is struggling with service delivery?”

He said that at least under the previous deputy president, two Free State municipalities were acknowledged. “So is the Deputy President being lied to?

“Or is he wilfully blind? Because under the current premier’s watch, we are seeing human rights violations across the province (and) … the Auditor-General says nearly all municipalities are doing harm.”

Letshoa-Mathae’s office is “the nexus around which intergovernmental coordination should function,” he said. “But clearly, it’s failing.” Addressing her directly, he said: “As the first citizen of the province, you should be out front – leading and stabilising service delivery.

“The Free State doesn’t need more political deployments. It needs functioning municipalities. And no amount of community development workers can fix that.”

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi cg