Deputy Speaker and hon members, budgeting and its underlying fiscal framework is a difficult balancing act. As the expression goes, "Human desires are like the world of the dead - there is always room for more". The unlimited needs and wants of the country must be accommodated in a limited budget. This constraint makes the process of budgeting particularly difficult. Accordingly, a careful thought process ought to go into what should constitute our nation's priorities. In this regard, we are encouraged by the government's seemingly renewed focus on infrastructure development. Infrastructure development is one of the many ways in which government can stimulate economic activity, create jobs and thus free our people from the yoke of poverty.
Disappointingly, many of government's grand plans and bold visions have fallen dreadfully short of expectations, due to a poor or complete lack of implementation. According to government estimates in the 2010-11 fiscal year, only R178 billion was spent out of R260 billion set aside for infrastructure development. That is only 68%. Once again, this points to a glaring lack of government capacity to plan and implement the infrastructure development programme. The service delivery protests over the last few years are symptomatic of government's failure to translate its grand plans and budget allocations into meaningful service delivery, putting further emphasis on the importance of aligning the fiscal framework with the needs of our people.
The UDM is concerned that motor vehicle owners who are reeling from the pressure of high crude oil prices face a 20c increase in the fuel levy on 1 April 2012. This taxation increases inflation in South Africa. The only justification for the fuel levy should be the need to maintain infrastructure - roads in particular. However, since government does not only use the fuel levy for road maintenance, it now also deems it fit to defend the indefensible conversion of the public into cash cows by introducing the e-tolling system in Gauteng to maintain the road infrastructure. [Time expired.]