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The DA expects KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Finance MEC, Peggy Nkonyeni to address the ongoing issues of poverty, inequality and the collapse of service delivery across our province when she delivers her 2023/2024 provincial Budget later this week.

What we do not want to hear is an election budget, where money intended for the people is spent on ANC government roadshows and more meet, greet and eats.

Topping the list of the DA’s expectations is that the MEC provides an open and honest assessment of KZN’s financial status at the end of 2023, after all indications point to the province having ended up in the red. What this means is that KZN will start the new financial year on a negative footing, which it can ill-afford.

Compensation of Employees (CoE), along with the unfunded mandate of salary increases for government employees, remain a significant concern to the DA and the MEC needs to tell us how this is going to impact the budget for the forthcoming year.

Given this alarming backdrop, MEC Nkonyeni also needs to tell us what money will be left for service delivery in the province as municipal electricity and water infrastructure collapses and as millions of people are affected on a daily basis.

Then there are the challenges of poverty and inequality which continue to affect many of our province’s people on a daily basis. The withdrawal of funding to KZN’s NPOs is set to have a horrific impact and the MEC must outline how this is going to be remedied.

The critical departments of Health and Education are showing signs of total fiscal collapse, further compounding the current financial crisis facing KZN. The MEC needs to table a concrete solution to arrest runaway expenditure within both these departments, compounded by the unfunded wage agreement. She also needs to tell us exactly how infrastructure within the two departments will be addressed.

Right now, the people of our province need a lifeline. The chance of it coming from KZN’s Taliban faction ANC government is almost zero.

The DA has a plan to rescue KZN through the creation of a capable and ethical state, supported by sound financial management. The downward trajectory of our province must be brought to an end when KZN’s residents go to the polls on 29 May.

Issued by Francois Rodgers, MPL - Leader of the DA in the KZN Legislature/DA KZN Spokesperson on Finance