Mr Speaker, the Division of Revenue Bill provides for the distribution of nationally raised revenue between the three spheres of government. This year, the relevant amounts are R622,43 billion to national government, R309,05 billion to provinces and R37,87 billion to local government.
South Africa needs to create jobs and eradicate poverty. This can only be achieved by a much higher GDP growth rate. Our current growth rate and the growth rate forecast for the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, is simply not sufficient for achieving this goal.
The DA in its alternative budget focuses on ways in which the national Budget could be structured to achieve an 8% GDP growth rate on a sustainable basis. Such a growth rate is not only required for job creation and poverty eradication but is also necessary to ensure credibility as a Brazil, Russia, India, China, Bric, partner. We have to work smarter and harder and create a streamlined government. We need to eliminate wastage resulting, in the main, from inefficient service delivery by a large number of politically well-connected but poorly performing public servants.
In this regard, a report by the Public Service Commission found that 1 135 cases of financial misconduct were committed by public servants during the 2009-10 financial year, involving an amount of R346 million. The financial misconduct was found in 39 national departments and 9 provincial departments. When reflecting on the performance of some state employees, the following two examples illustrate the point of inefficient service delivery.
In the first example, water pipes to the value of some R200 million will have to be replaced at the Nandoni Dam project in Limpopo. This is because the engineers employed by the relevant departments specified the installation of glass-reinforced instead of steel pipes. They then failed to do quality tests on the glass-reinforced pipes before installation, resulting in these pipes bursting when placed under pressure. The pipes are substandard and will have to be replaced at a cost of R200 million. [Interjections.]
A second example is the way in which private businesses are being disadvantaged by the nonpayment of their accounts in respect of goods and services delivered to the state. At the end of February the department of health in Gauteng, for instance, owed R2,89 billion to its suppliers and the amount is increasing. How do we expect suppliers to survive and continue doing business with the government under these circumstances? [Interjections.]
To ensure a leaner government, the DA's alternative budget provides for the abolition of a number of government departments and institutions, such as the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, as well as Setas. In this way, we can create a more streamlined government and free up money to help accelerate growth and tackle poverty. [Interjections.] To achieve the goal of a more streamlined government, the DA's government budget proposes, inter alia, the abolition of district municipalities. This would lead to an annual saving of R500 million. This is a proposal supported by the ANC's recently released discussion documents and something they can accept in those documents. [Interjections.]
There just are far too many government departments and institutions and there is reason to be concerned about the excessively high wage component in government expenditure. A good example of this is the department of health in Limpopo, which spends 73% of its budget on salaries. No wonder they have been placed under administration.
The President in the 2012 state of the nation address and the hon Minister of Finance in his Budget Speech this year quite correctly placed great emphasis on job creation and poverty alleviation by way of infrastructurel development. However, the question remains whether the three spheres of government have both the ability and/or capacity to spend the money now allocated to them in the Division of Revenue Bill. In this regard, it is interesting to note that at the end of the third quarter of the 2011-12 financial year, provinces had in aggregate spent only 61,5% of their combined capital adjusted budgets. Similarly, municipalities underspent by R28,4 billion for the financial period ending 30 June. Of this amount, R12,4 billion was underspent on capital budgets.
Investment is critical if we are to stimulate growth and job creation. The ANC government seems to be intent on shooting itself in the foot with regard to procuring investment for the economy by pushing for legislation such as the Protection of State Information Bill - the Secrecy Bill - tampering with concepts such as willing-buyer, willing-seller, undermining the independence of the judiciary and generally seeking to tamper with the Constitution. In addition, the ANC's tripartite alliance partner, Cosatu, sees fit to stage massive strikes, costing business and the country billions of rands.
Where, then, do we find ourselves? On the one hand we have a Budget and a Division of Revenue Bill worthy of support. On the other hand we face a range of challenges. We can, however, deliver opportunities and a brighter future for all our citizens by tackling government inefficiency, promoting and protecting the values on which our democracy is built and improving service delivery. [Applause.]