1. Hon. MEC, it is noted by the MF that treasury has had a significant R97,677 million increase for the 2013/2014 budget year.
2. This increase caters for transversal projects which are key to turning around the deficiencies of drivers of internal control with departments with consecutive qualified reports. Hon. Members, as per the AG’s report.
3. The APP of Treasury, eg. Our page 31, needs to be more informative with respect to the challenges of treasury. The strategic objective annual targets have no planned target to measure against, the program performance indicators differ from year to year because performance is measured by what is achieved and not what must be achieved.
4. Hon. MEC, please look at these tables carefully and revise reporting, you may find gaps in planning that need to be fixed, because performance bonuses have been a sore point in most portfolio meetings, where we have under-achieved.
5. Hon. MEC, the infrastructure crack team is required in Ladysmith to urgently stop the wastage of clean water due to old pipes bursting all the time, this will create jobs and help carryover spending as our fiscal policy dictates.
6. I want to now look at job creation given the fact, in the budget speech, focusing on the drastic increase in discouraged work-seekers b 19000 with overall unemployment rate of 22,5%, Hon. MEC your report must also have a focus that clearly shows governments core priorities eg. Departmental budget percentages that go to BBBEE, women empowerment, disability employment and green jobs. These keep the budget focused on the MDG’s and the target for 2015 but if we focus more on nature, nature will provide a living for each person, that a guarantee.
7. Hon. Members, given the R 1 billion decrease in KZN’s fiscus, it is imperative that the 2013/2013 budget maintains counter cyclical support to stabilise departmental adjustments so that over the medium term, the fiscal position consolidated in line with improved economic performance and strict adherence to legislative adherence.
8. The Minority Front supports this budget.

Thank you

Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi

Minority Front