Budget Speech 2024: Disaster recovery gets R1.4b budget
Minister Godongwana announced a R1.4 billion budget in his budget speech to enable municipalities to respond to disasters.
The majority of fifty-one percent of the R2.8 trillion total budget in the budget speech for non-interest expenditures, such as salaries, employee benefits, equipment, and other operating expenses, has been allocated to provinces and municipalities to respond effectively to service delivery challenges and disasters.
This was announced on Wednesday by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana when he tabled the country’s 2024 National Budget Speech in Cape Town. He said R531.7 billion is allocated to local governments, and R2.3 trillion for provinces.
MUNICIPALITIES ARE THE COALFACE OF SERVICE DELIVERY: MINISTER GODONGWANA 2024 BUDGET SPEECH
“Madam Speaker, municipalities are the coalface of service delivery. Sadly, an unacceptable number of them are experiencing weaknesses in governance, financial management, and service delivery,” said Godongwana.
He said regarding municipalities; an additional R1.4 billion has been provided for the municipal disaster recovery grant to fund the repair and reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by the tragic floods of 2023.
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LAST YEAR’S FLOODS CLASSIFIED AS NATIONAL DISASTERS
South Africa experienced floods and storms that hit three coastal provinces in September and October 2023, later classified as national disasters, allowing the government to free up funds to assist with reconstruction.
“To address these challenges and transform municipalities into growth engines, we have adopted a multi-pronged approach,” said Godongwana. “It focuses on tightening budget processes, ramping up oversight, increasing the skills and capacity of municipal employees, and driving investment in maintaining and building infrastructure,” he added.
SOUTH AFRICA TO LEAD G20 COUNTRIES NEXT YEAR: 2024 BUDGET SPEECH
The Finance Minister said next year, South Africa will get an opportunity to take on the presidency of the G20, which is a group of independent countries that work together to address significant issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability and climate change.
“South Africa’s G20 presidency is an opportunity for us to advance the most pressing economic, developmental, and financial issues that face poor and developing countries. As President Ramaphosa rightly stated in his State of the Nation Address, our goal is to “place Africa’s development at the top of the agenda when we host the G20 in 2025,” Godongwana said.