Western Cape residents will now have to bear the brunt of the 7% in budget allocation National Government does not cover, as 7% tax increases will be instated. As 93% of the province’s allocated budget is provided by national government, the balance will be raised by the Cape’s treasury.
This will mean that motor vehicle fees will increase by 4.5% from April 1, and hospital fees will increase by 1.7%.
The majority of the province’s money will come from Western Cape Gaming and Racing Board gaming charges, as well as Western Cape Liquor Authority liquor license payments.
“Where we had previously pencilled-in budget cuts, we have been able to make additional allocations of R1.2 billion in 2020/21, R275 million in 2021/22 and R490 million in 2022/23,” Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC David Maynier said to IOL. “R71.6 billion in 2020/21, R74.9 billion in 2021/22 and R78.3 billion in 2022/23.”
Maynier said the province will invest R4-billion over the medium term to develop healthy and inclusive neighbourhoods, including R1.1-billion to recruit more crime-fighting law enforcement officers; R32.4-billion over the medium term to improve economic growth and create jobs; and R24.6-billion over the medium term to foster connectivity and infrastructure transition.
“We will implement a compensation of employees’ reduction strategy, which includes terminating performance bonus allocations in 2021/22; limiting overtime spending; carefully managing leave payouts; and limiting the growth in personnel, so that personnel numbers are proportional to departmental priorities,” Maynier added.
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