Chairperson, let me, again, take this opportunity to thank all members for supporting this Division of Revenue Bill. A number of points which show that our democracy is indeed maturing, particularly when it comes to dealing with issues that relate to addressing the inequalities of the past, were raised.
The chair of the committee spoke about the need to stretch limited resources at this trying time. Never in our history has this point been so relevant. Never in our history has the economic question - that of satisfying unlimited wants with limited resources - been so glaringly important.
Members unanimously raised the issue of the importance of oversight once resources have been deployed. I indicated in my speech earlier that all the recommendations that the committee has made will be taken seriously. Some of them will actually be carried forward into the next financial year, as it was not possible to accommodate all of them during this financial year.
Members have already dealt with Mr Lees's dilemma of coming from a different planet to the one we are on. You see, I grew up in a rural area where people would travel in tractors and sit at the back. Whilst all of them were facing the front, a few delinquents would be facing backwards; that is what we experienced. When everybody else is facing in one direction, in order to build, one of us is facing backwards. So, if anyone of us was wondering what happened to the perpetrators of the deliberate exclusion of our people from economic participation, now we know where they are; they are still in our midst. [Applause.]
We survived the structural adjustments in the past. For an hon member to come before this House and say that this Budget is skewed towards social expenditure instead of funding economic infrastructure just shows that we really represent different constituencies.
If we are blind to the fact that our people are still poor out there, we are not going to see the need for us to balance the two. Whilst we invest in the productive capacity of this country in order to build the economy, we also need to look at how best we can address the plight of the people who otherwise cannot mitigate the poverty that they live in.
I agree that local government receives a smaller share, but anybody who understands how government works knows that local government is actually supposed to rely more on the revenue that it raises. A number of members raised the issue of how important it is that local government is assisted in boosting its capacity to be able to collect its own revenue, but also at the same time to make sure that government departments and all other people who owe rates to local government pay those on time. If this does not happen, I want to urge members - as public representatives - to make sure that those are taken up and necessary steps are taken in order to address it.
I agree with the MEC from North West with regard to the provincial equitable share. I have made an offer to the MEC to mediate between North West and Gauteng, because we have a similar complaint from Gauteng - that they inherited an influx of functions that came from North West and that the allocation that we transferred from the North West is not adequate. So, we have the two to balance.
With regard to the issue of the equitable share review, at both provincial and local government levels, the support for this review is appreciated and it came from all members across the board. I would also just like to indicate that the Financial and Fiscal Commission forms part of the review team that deals with this. The issue of inward immigration from rural areas into some of our cities is also fully appreciated, and the updating of data, in order for us to be able to deal with this, is under way. I also want to indicate that the other problem that we are faced with is that in order for us to stop our people from migrating from the rural areas into towns, we need to develop the rural areas in order for them to be able to absorb their own people as well as ensure that they are economically viable, so that people do not move to the towns in order to search for greener pastures. We still have this balance that we all need to work towards addressing.
With regard to the issue of unfunded mandates that came up from the member from KwaZulu-Natal, again we agree. But, I must indicate that National Treasury has an even bigger unfunded mandate, because in order for us to finance our borrowing to finance our expenditure, we need to service the debt. So, we need to balance the two, particularly at this time when we cannot raise adequate revenue, because we will all suffer as a result of that. Therefore, the issue of reprioritisation becomes even more critical than before.
We have identified savings in some of the provinces and departments, and we request that members assist us in making sure that departments, provinces and local governments begin to look at their priorities and cut noncore expenditure in order to spend where our priorities lie.
Every time the budgets are passed at local government level, one of the things that we should look at is what the priorities of local government are. Some of the things might be nice to have, but may not be necessary at this time for us to fund. We, therefore, would like to call upon members to assist us during their oversight to ensure that that happens.
I cannot overemphasise the point I touched on earlier, that of payments of accounts to municipalities on time. In fact, it is a provision in the Public Finance Management Act, PFMA, that that should be the case. If there are disputes on accounts, provinces and municipalities should agree on how to resolve them. Again, we offer to mediate if there are any problems.
It is impossible for me to deal with all the issues raised. I have taken copious notes; my officials are also here. Those that are within our powers to address, we will, and those that are not, we call on the collective wisdom of this august House to assist us in addressing. Thank you, Chairperson, and thank you for supporting the Division of Revenue Bill. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Question put: That the Bill be agreed to.
IN FAVOUR: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West, Western Cape.
Bill agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.