Gauteng govt increases health and education budgets
Finance MEC Lebogang Maile presented the mid-term budget before the Gauteng Legislature on Tuesday.
FILE: From left: Mncedisi Vilakazi, Deputy Director General of Gauteng Treasury; Lebogang Maile, Gauteng Finance MEC and Ncumisa Mnyani, Gauteng Treasury Head of Department. Picture: Thabiso Goba/ Eyewitness News
JOHANNESBURG - The Gauteng government won't be cutting down on nurses and teachers as it increases the budget for health and education.
Finance MEC Lebogang Maile presented the mid-term budget before the Gauteng Legislature on Tuesday.
The budget has been adjusted upwards by R2.1 billion largely due to money from the provincial revenue fund, which is essentially the government’s savings account.
The departments of health and education take up a large portion of the Gauteng government’s entire budget.
They are usually the first departments to get their budget cuts when the budget is under pressure.
However, in this year’s mid-term budget, the health budget has been increased by R600 million and education by R300 million.
“We will not be cutting jobs in education, health or any other sectors and that’s why we are giving an additional R600 million to the Department of Health and R300 million to education," said Finance MEC Lebogang Maile.
Despite this, opposition parties said that public hospitals and schools still remain heavily underfunded.
Lebogang Maile, Gauteng Finance MEC, said the province has lost R6-billion in funding from National Treasury due to Stats SA “overstating” its population size.
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) November 26, 2024
The latest Census 2022 data says Gauteng is the most populated province in the country with 15,1 million residents. TCG pic.twitter.com/4HDe4CJ675