EFF and MK Party assist ANC in passing budgets in Gauteng

Although not part of the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party assisted the African National Congress (ANC) in passing all budgets in the Gauteng legislature.

Following disagreements with the Democratic Alliance (DA), the ANC formed a GPU with other smaller parties. The DA voted against all the items on Thursday, 1 August.

EFF AND MK PARTY COME TO ANC’S RESCUE IN GAUTENG

Following the cabinet announcement, Freedom Front Plus member Anton Alberts said a well-composed government of provincial unity would have been able to adopt the party’s sensible policies and implement them for Gauteng’s benefit.

“Lesufi will have an uphill battle to implement decisions, seeing as he is ruling with a significant minority. Lesufi will struggle to get the 50% + 1 vote needed in the legislature without the support of the FF Plus and the DA.

“If Lesufi were to ask the EFF and the MK for their support, he would have to make questionable compromises which may be detrimental to Gauteng because of those parties’ radical policies,” Alberts said.

The ANC has 28 seats in the provincial legislature while its partners Rise Mzansi and IFP have one seat each and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) has two seats. All the parties combined do not make up 50% +1 that was needed to pass the budget.

On Thursday, the Gauteng provincial legislature passed a 163.8 billion budget and notably funds allocated to the Office of the Premier were cut down from 886 million in the previous year to just R671 million in the 2024/2025 financial year.

Gauteng is South Africa’s economic hub, housing Sandton, which is the richest square mile in Africa. However, the province is plagued by a lack of service delivery, high unemployment rates, corruption, and crime.

ActionSA said the government is over relied on consultants there is a need to build in-house capacity in order to reduce money spent on consulting companies.

ActionSA Gauteng leader Funzi Ngobeni said they can do this by investing in training and development programmes to upskill employees and build expertise within the administration.

“We need to identify inefficiencies and streamline processes to improve productivity and reduce reliance on consultants for temporary fixes. One of the things that must also happen is to implement knowledge transfer programmes whereby we encourage knowledge sharing between employees and departments. This will then assist us in retaining expertise within the administration and therefore reduce our dependence on consultants,” he said.

Meanwhile, newly-appointed Gauteng Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile said he is confident that the province will recover the multi-million rand e-toll debt.

Maile said they are in advanced stages of securing a loan to pay off the debt from a reputable financial institution and they publicise the details.

‘A PROGRESSIVE STEP TOWARDS STABILISING THE ECONOMY’

The ANC in Gauteng welcomed the passing of the budget saying it is a progressive step towards stabilising the economy and providing much-needed services to the residents in the province.

The party said the passing of the provincial budget by the majority of the political parties represented in the provincial legislature also affirms the legitimacy of the seventh administration under premier Panyaza Lesufi.

“In recognition of the significant work that is needed in improving the infrastructure in the province, the budget allocates a substantial amount to infrastructure development by departments and entities.”