Gauteng COGTA committee concerned over cuts to provincial disaster fund
Earlier on Wednesday, the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (COGTA) tabled its annual budget before the Gauteng legislature.
FILE: The Gauteng Legislature on 14 June 2024. Picture: Jacques Nelles/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng portfolio committee on cooperative governance has raised concern over a R25 million budget cut to disaster management.
Earlier on Wednesday, the department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (COGTA) tabled its annual budget before the Gauteng legislature.
The budget includes a cut to the provincial disaster fund, which is set aside to assist municipalities during emergencies.
Chairperson of the COGTA portfolio committee, Mzi Khumalo, said that the disaster fund had been cut from R78 million to R53 million.
"The portfolio committee urges the department to ensure there are adequate budget is allocated to disaster management programmes, this will provide essential support in instances where unforeseen disasters strike the province."
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in Gauteng said that it would be voting against the COGTA budget.
Its member, Molebogeng Masoleng, said that the department was shifting away from its core mandate of providing support and strengthening local municipalities.
"We are of the view this appropriation does not respond to the current political climate we find ourselves in. An indication that once more the ANC government failed to recognise the rise of the moment, Gauteng finds itself [in], where the people of the province are dissatisfied with the ANC, failed to give it an outright majority. This should have sounded the call for new ideas."