We have requested that Parliament be kept up to date on National Treasury's review of the fiscal transfer system as it is completed this year. We hope that this review helps to secure a fairer share of revenue for the provinces against the circumstances of the provinces.
The Western Cape supports the Division of Revenue Bill on the condition that this review brings the provincial equitable allocation in line with immigration into the province. I thank you. [Applause.]
UMntwana M M ZULU: Mhlonishwa Sihlalo, iPhini likaSihlalo, iPhini likaNgqongqoshe walo Mnyango, oNdunankulu bazo zonke izifundazwe zethu zaseNingizimu Afrika, njengeqembu uma sibuka siyaweseka uMthethosivivinywa wokweHliswa kweziNtela njengabantu abakhe kuleli lizwe laseNingizimu Afrika.
Bese sibeka ukuthi kufanele kube namasu okubheka ukuthi izigebengu ezisebenza kulabo masipala, kohulumeni basekhaya, ikakhulukazi izimenenja nabaphathi bezimali ikhona yini indlela eyenziwayo ukuze bachaze ngokusetshenziswa kwezimali zomphakathi.
Njengeqembu futhi siyakweseka ukuthi uMnyango ophatha izimali, noMnyango Kahulumeni Wokubambisana kanye Nezindaba Zezendabuko, kufuneka ubhekelele kulezo zibonelelo eziya komasipala abampofu njengasekhaya eMelmoth, eNkandla nakuzo zonke ezinye izindawo lapho kunomasipala abancane futhi abampofu kakhulu. Kufuneka kube khona indlela yokubhekelela ukuthi kulezi zibonelelo abanikezwa zona ikhona yini enye indlela abasizakala ngayo, nokuthi bangenza kanjani ukuba bakwazi ukuthola imali, bakwazi ukuzimela ngoba ekugcineni kuyofuneka bazimele ukuze bakwazi ukuhlangabezana nezidingo zabantu.
Njengeqembu seseka izincomo zekomidi elincome ukuthi kufuneka kubekhona lokhu okuthiwa yisibonelelo sezingane ezisezincane, ukuze kukwazi ukuthi nezingane zethu ezisemabangeni emfundo eyisisekelo zikwazi ukubonelelwa emphakathini njengabantu abanelungelo lokuphila.
Mhlonishwa uma ningenazo izindlela zokubheka ukuthi sizintshontsha kanjani izimali zikahulumeni kuyobe kusetshenzelwa ize leze. UMnyango wakho noMnyango Kahulumeni Wokubambisana kanye Nezindaba Zezendabuko ezweni, kufuneka kube nezindlela enizibekayo ekubhekeni amafa omphakathi ukuthi laphaya ebantwini bakithi abampofu njengami bayakwazi ukusizakala. Ngibonga kakhulu. Iqembu lami liyaweseka uMthethosivivinywa wokweHliswa kweziNtela. [Ihlombe.] (Translation of isiZulu speech follows.)
[Prince M M M ZULU: Hon Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Deputy Minister of this department, premiers of all the provinces of South Africa, as a party and as citizens of South Africa we support the Division of Revenue Bill.
And we need to state that there should be strategies in place so that those criminals who work at these municipalities - local governments - especially the municipal managers and the chief financial officers, can account for the use of taxpayers' money.
And as a party we also support the call that the Department of Finance and the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs must be considerate in terms of the subsidies that are allocated to poor municipalities like those in my hometown of Melmoth, or Nkandla and all the other places that have smaller municipalities that are also in great distress. There must also be other ways that will look into whether these subsidies can be beefed up in any way wether they can get other funds to enable these municipalities to stand on their own, because they must be able to stand on their own at the end for them to be able to meet the people's needs.
As a party we support the committee's recommendations in that there must be a government grant that supports young children. Our children who are still receiving basic education should receive assistance through government funds, because they also have the right to life.
Hon member, if you do not have ways of detecting how we misuse government funds, we are striving for nothing at all. Between your department and the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, strategies must be put in place to see to it that public funds are accessible to our people who are poor like me. Thank you very much. My party supports the Division of Revenue Bill. [Applause.]]
Ms L HLONGWA (KwaZulu-Natal): Chairperson, Deputy Minister, hon members of the House, it is an honour for us to participate in such an important debate on the Division of Revenue Bill for 2010-11. The KwaZulu-Natal finance portfolio committee met on Thursday, 11 March, to consider and negotiate a mandate in respect of the Bill. The committee agreed to support the Bill without any amendments. This Bill was subsequently approved by the House on 23 March 2010. Chairperson, the Bill met all the requirements of the law and, therefore, all political parties felt it necessary to support it. We should thank the Deputy Minister who has today shared with us the good intentions by government to deliver services to our people amidst the recession. This confirms the commitment of the ANC to creating a caring society.
At the outset, we wish to express our appreciation for the introduction of the new grants, namely the Expanded Public Works Programme, EPWP, grant for the social sector, for which we are already developing a plan for it to be better utilised. The Technical Secondary Schools Recapitalisation Grant has brought relief to us as a province, as most of our technical schools were really not meeting the needs of technical schools. The further education and training, FET, function shift will help to alleviate the challenges faced by our FET colleges and also help us to stabilise the sector, which was somehow becoming a thorny issue in the Department of Education. Other grants include the water services operating subsidy, the municipal systems improvement grant and others.
Chairperson, the allocation to KwaZulu-Natal seems fair; we believe that we are allocated the largest share of all provinces. However, there is a need to mention the impact of unfunded national mandates that affect all provinces, inter alia the shortfall in allocation for the implementation of the occupation-specific dispensation, OSD, allowances made to all departments. This shortfall has a knock-on effect for future financial years.
The implementation of the OSD affecting various sectors also continues to exert pressure on the provincial fiscus, as these OSD packages are agreed to at the national level but are not always accurately costed when providing additional funding to the provinces. The shortfall in the higher- than-anticipated wage increase for public servants for the year 2009-10 also has a knock-on effect for future financial years.
We would like to highlight a few unfunded mandates particular to the province of KwaZulu-Natal: Firstly, there is the shortfall in the budget of the devolution of the property rates fund grant to provinces. This shortfall amounts to R221 million for the 2009-10 financial year, with a further projected shortfall of R321,5 million for the year 2010-11, bringing the cumulative shortfall to R542,5 million for the year 2010-11. This will increase substantially in the outer Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, years.
Secondly, there is the unresolved dispute between the national and provincial Department of Public Works on the ownership of certain properties in the province for which rates must be paid. At present, the municipalities in which these disputed properties exist have to bear the cost of unpaid rates. The eThekwini Municipality has taken a decision to cut off electricity and running water to these government institutions.
Thirdly, we need to address the acknowledgement by the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, of the debt owed to the provincial department of social development for the use of provincial facilities and resources for the current and past financial years but no commitment from the national Department of Social Development to pay these debts owed.
Another problem is the inability of the Department of Transport to meet its financial commitments to national road initiatives in KwaZulu-Natal, such as Sani Pass, the John Ross Highway in Richards Bay and the R102 upgrade for the new King Shaka Airport in eThekwini.
The new policy on incapacity leave, ill-health and retirement will cost a fortune in the province. This year it will cost about R28,7 million, R29,9 million in 2011-12 and R31,1 million in 2012-13. Though the province has sourced money to fund it, this initiative is totally an unfunded mandate and that is the opinion of the committee on finance.
Provincial Treasury requested a substantial amount of additional funding of R86,138 million, R92,657 million and R88,591 million for the municipal support programme for the year 2010-11. This is considered to be an unfunded mandate as the implementation of the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act in provinces has not been implemented with additional funds being provided by the National Treasury, but rather it is expected that provinces find the necessary funding for this mammoth task from within their provincial baselines. Some funding was allocated towards this but not nearly enough to cover the actual cost of implementation.
Education has requested additional funding of R338,409 million in this year, R494,666 million, and R591,399 million for the 2010-11 Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, for the expansion of provincial examinations administrations, for which no additional funding was provided by the National Treasury.
The incorporation of Umzimkhulu into KwaZulu-Natal has brought about spending pressure in this Vote, since most of the schools in that area were mud schools, and we are still struggling as a department to eradicate that backlog. The province has costed this backlog at R44,1 billion if we are to deal with the infrastructure backlogs in all our schools in the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Chairperson, the last point is that the Department of Public Works has requested substantial additional funding for R45,461 million, R47, 270 million and R49,566 million for the implementation of Gijima. The department also requested R2,328 million, R916 000 and R949 000 to enhance the functionality of the register to, amongst others, comply with the Gijima minimum requirements of a fixed assets register.
The impeding expenditure arises from the implementation of a new national Act, for which no additional funding was provided to provinces. Government departments have attended a workshop on this development, but there is little indication that they will be able to roll out this mandate in this current financial year.
The disaster management grant has been allocated R133 million for the year 2010-11. This amount will not cover the cost of emergency housing interventions, as in 2009-10, because we have already exhausted the allocation of R150 million and money still has to be paid, and we therefore need more money for disaster housing in KwaZulu-Natal.
The province of KwaZulu-Natal takes this opportunity to applaud the Division of Revenue Bill. As we have indicated before, it seeks to better the lives of our people, and it is certainly in line with the manifesto of the ANC. We extend our appreciation to Treasury for all the reviews that have to be done this year. The KwaZulu-Natal province applauds the select committee on the report tabled to us on 23 March 2010. We think that this is a step in the right direction, especially the recommendations in as far as the introduction of early childhood development grants and assistance to municipalities are concerned. As I alluded to earlier on, most of our municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal are in a bad state and need more money to service the people and also to build the capacity as suggested by the SA Local Government Association, Salga.
Chairperson, in closing, we are also delighted by the intention of Treasury to review the provincial equitable share, PES, formula as we think the province has fallen prey to this kind of a formula since KwaZulu-Natal has more than 8 million people. The KwaZulu-Natal province here commits itself to ensuring that monies appropriated for this year and allocations in the outer years are put to good use. With these words, Chairperson, we would like to thank you. We support the Bill. [Applause.]