PLENARY 19 MAY 2026

Added: 2026-05-25

[00:00:00]in the cost of living. For example, the free basic units for electricity are not keeping up with the rate of increase in the electricity cost implemented through NESA.

[00:00:10]B response of national treasury national treasury strongly agrees with the principle of differentiation and is pleased to report that this is already the central pillar in the 2026 budget framework. The 2026 partial review explicitly introduce a different a differentiator fiscal framework for local government recognizing that uniform approach is inappropriate given the vast heterogenity across South Africa's 257 municipalities. The local government equitable share formula already incorporates a basic services subsidy of 647 rand 96 per household per month for 11.2 2 million qualifying households that is weighted towards poor revenue concerned municipalities. While several major conditional grant have a rural bias eg municipal infrastructure grant, regional bulk infrastructure grant, water services infrastructure grant and integrated national electrification program grant. The ongoing review of local government fiscal framework seeks to further strengthen differentiation by updating data inputs including household and cost and cost structures refining cost assumption for rural and urban service delivery and aligning funding with realistic municipal capacity. The draft 2026 white paper on local government chapter 8 also proposes a graduation model for grant conditionally uh where municipality with stronger revenue basis face higher performance expectation national treasury will ensure the committee specific proposal appro approximately 15% for revenue constraint municipalities is formally considered as part of LG FF review vertical ical division analysis in terms of its implication.

[00:02:10]Okay, let's go speaker to to the last I think they will read for themselves the to the last uh response of the national treasury which is a G.

[00:02:27]Yeah. which is G H this I yeah it's I a consideration I'm I'm reading the bullet h paragraph the the bold paragraph speaker and of the legislature and also the uh the the the response because of the on on the last four minutes uh that is left consideration should be given that's the legislature said consideration should be given for a new conditional grant based on schedule 4 part A of the constitution currently the eastern cape has a total number of 1.7 million learners of schools enrollment and the majority are in quendal one to three with some of them having to travel more than 5 kilometers to teaching and learning institution hence we propose a additional uh grant to support the current funding of the scholar transport by the province. Uh the South African connect project cost uh as reflected in the 2020 anti-budget national tit budget review amounted to 80 billion and was earmarked to support the roll out of the broadband initiatives in the royal provinces.

[00:03:49]Currently the Eastern Cape has a budget shortfall of 2.6 6 billion in rolling out two 2,700 site monitoring the police monitoring the police and the working with communities in fighting crime and gender based violence and femicide the response of national >> Dr. Dubai, you have two minutes remaining.

[00:04:17]>> All pro all all provinces all allocate funding towards scholar transport via equitable share problem is not necessarily the source of funding being either equitable share or conditional grant but rather this sector should focus on how to reach more learners by improving inefficiencies and fragmentation of funding in the system.

[00:04:39]Therefore, the focus should be on advocating for the sector to strengthen its oversight on of the program in particular the safety and the reliability of vehicles contracted.

[00:04:50]Contract management and credible tariff determination should be prioritized amongst other issues identified. The introduction of conditional grant may not be an effective measure to address the current systematic challenges in the system. National Treasury proposes a dedicated technical workshop with the Eastern Cape Legislature to address the long-standing negotiating mandate issues raised by the province. The workshop will bring together national treasury stats SA the FFC the relevant national line departments co department of transport education and human settlement agriculture and traditional affairs the eastern K provincial legislature and the sector department. The intended outputs are a short technical brief clarifying data and methodology issues, a timebound set of follow-up actions including which national department should engage with the committee directly. We ask the committee secretariat to propose a suitable date and the agenda. I present honorable speaker uh 19 seconds. Let yeah 17 seconds. Let me thanks let me thanks all the members of the committee.

[00:06:01]Dr. Taza and all the chairpersons of the committee. Thank you very much speaker on and mounting fiscal strain. The division of revenue bill reflects government priorities and fiscal choices. Its allocations shape the ability of provinces and municipalities to make >> that we are a province of amazing potential.

[00:06:25]We really should be the leaders in South Africa when it comes to things like tourism, agroprocessing, the motor industry, and so many other things. We've got a workforce of people that want to work, that want to be economically active, that wants to provide for their families, of people that want to be dependent on government.

[00:06:52]Honorable speaker, >> honorable member, you have two minutes remaining.

[00:06:58]>> Thank you, honorable speaker, the DA will be supporting this budget and this report because the fact is that to fix things and to turn things around and to bring change to the Eastern Cape, you will need this money. You will need this money. Honorable members, the reality is that the NCled government has built approximately 3 million houses for poor and workingclass families since the advent of democracy.

[00:07:26]These houses restored dings of people who previously lived in informal settlement, m structures, overcrowded host and upper date designed townships without proper services.

[00:07:38]The access to electricity has also expanded significantly under democratic government. In the early years of democracy, millions of black households, particularly in the rural areas, had no electricity at all. Today, close to 90% of households in South Africa have access to electricity. This transformation fundamentally changed the quality of life for millions of families across the country.

[00:08:03]Honorable speaker, the ANC government also intro continent today social grants support millions of vulnerable South Africans including pensioners, children, persons living with disabilities and unemployed citizens.

[00:08:20]Recent figures indicate that school grants reach approximately 19 million beneficiaries every month while broader so social assistance programs support even more South Africans.

[00:08:33]Honorable speaker, as we support this budget food, we reupstate that places the people first. We acknowledge the challenges. We call upon honorable Thank you.

[00:10:38]as phase two of the chamber upgrade funded from the capital budget allocation. The ENK legislator provincial legislature internet and house resolution tracking system were developed in 202526 and are plann to for a roll out in the first quarter of 2627.

[00:10:58]The legislature plans to implement 100% of security controls in all adopted digital platforms and has a cyber security plan in place. There are discrepancies in the capacity building targets between the A operational plan and EPRE including the number of MPLs and staff to be capacitated, the number of busaries to be awarded and the training budget. Furthermore, the EPRE indicates that 65 internship and 30 learnership opportunities are planned but no readiness report or placement plan was presented. The legislature confirmed that the 30-year anniversary of the constitution will be commemorated through infusion into all existing institutional activities rather than through a standalone celebration. I know today we had a a judge president and was leading in the debate.

[00:11:55]The office block project is in in material breach of the national building regulations. The existing legislature building still lacks a certificate of of occupants guiding recommendations. The committee welcomed this increase. The increase acrews entirely to compensate is decreasing.

[00:12:17]And when you look at the budget of the legislature from before we entered for this term up until now, I'm going to go back over the last three financial years and the one that we are currently in the budget that is before us here today. In 2022 2023, the budget for the legislature was 609 million rand.

[00:12:41]The budget before the house today is just over 810 million rand. That is an increase of 201 million rand over a 4-year period or onethird 33% increase in the budget that is allocated to the legislature.

[00:13:05]And yet we as members and we can all feel it in the house here today including members of the ANC can feel it that the support that we receive as members feels as if it is dwindling over time.

[00:13:25]And the same excuse is being used that there is insufficient budget allocated to the legislature.

[00:13:35]Allow me to use some examples to demonstrate this fact.

[00:13:39]I'm going to start with the policies around devices for members.

[00:13:48]Just before the last term ended, the rules committee apparent now being told that but this is what that has now changed to further devastating rural economies.

[00:14:04]Elite capture projects like Mua and Machi estates continue to drain public resources.

[00:14:12]The the estates once profitable have required repeated bailouts including requests for millions in 2025 yet remained dependent on taxpayers maintenance funding with no gen transformation, profitability or worker control.

[00:14:31]Decades of lab of labor unrest, mismanagement, political interference and poor governance have turned these assets into bottomless pits while thousands of black small holders lack basic fencing inputs and markets.

[00:14:49]Honorable Deputy Speaker, the Eastern Cape Rural Development Agency central to many rural projects has a history of unqualified audits, maladministration and SIU investigations into procurement scandals. Red Hub's cooperatives remain largely nonfunctional with poor loan repayment and weak accountability.

[00:15:13]Research and training institutions are decaying. Don Agricultural Research Institute suffers from inadequate fencing, infrastructure neglect and limited impact on practical farmer pro problems, agriculture and dysfunctional system marginalized due to poor land governance and infrastructure.

[00:15:35]Market access.