MEC for Planning and Treasury Phumulo Masualle delivered the provincial annual budget in which he praised the improvements in healthcare and education.
MEC for Planning and Treasury Phumulo Masualle delivered the provincial annual budget in which he praised the improvements in healthcare and education.
The speech read yesterday in Bhisho got off to a positive start as Masualle highlighted the “excellent work done by our schools that is evident in the steady improvement of [matric results]”.
The Department of Education was allocated R26.9 billion – almost half of the total provincial expenditure.
This is a R700 million increase from 2012.
Part of the money is intended for “the delivery of quality education to Grades R to 12; monitoring and supporting learner performance and achievement in basic education,” Masualle said.
He mentioned better school nutrition, improved learner transport, and the provision and delivery of textbooks.
The MEC also said that the Eastern Cape had done better than expected in health outcomes, with improvements in the infant mortality rate, which has gone from 75 to 70 infants per 1 000.
There has also been an increase in the number of patients who have access to ARV treatment, as well as in the facilities that offer treatment.
However, Masualle said that health-care provision can not only concentrate on resource allocation.
“The focus in 2013/14 will be on strengthening the implementation of the Supply Chain Management Reforms in order to improve the service delivery platform of the department,” he said, adding that R4.4bn had been provided for health care.
Both the Agriculture and Construction sectors had performed better with an average annual growth of 45% and 41% respectively in the first three-quarters of 2012.
Instability within the mining sector and the damage to infrastructure due to floods in the Eastern Cape were challenges last year.
Thus the 2013 budget was “crafted against the backdrop of global uncertainty”, Masualle said.
He also noted that allocation of budgets within the Department of Economic Development and Tourism would have a positive effect on job creation and "enhanced economic activity”.
