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The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Free State is not impressed with the budget delivered by the MEC for Finance Hon. Ketso Makume on Tuesday, in Legislature, saying it is a repetition of previous years and it ignores the worsening crisis in the province.
According to Dulandi Leech; the DA Spokesperson on Finance in the Free State Legislature; the province will receive a R64 million decrease in equitable share for the 2025/26 financial year. She says this is as a result of the change in the equitable share formula due to amongst others, the decrease in the Free State population.
This can be largely attributed to the loss of confidence many residents have in the ANC-run government to turn around the economic trajectory of, and create jobs in the Free State and instead move and invest in other provinces.
“We are concerned that the Legislature continues to be underfunded, receiving only R323 million for the 2025/26 financial year. This institution is the seat of democracy in the province and serves an important oversight function. Without sufficient funding, the institution cannot function effectively.
In contrast, the Office of the Premier will receive almost double the allocation of the Legislature, amounting to over R633 million. This department remains overfunded, and the DA has iterated previously that this department is not a service delivery department and must lead the provincial administration through the effective and efficient utilisation of resources of the Free State,” said Dulandi Leech.
“The DA remains concerned that over R29 billion of the almost R46 billion budget is spent on compensation of employees in the provincial government.
We welcome the additional investment in infrastructure and personnel restructuring. However, the MEC failed to provide personnel downsizing time frames or tangible targets for this plan.
While the municipalities operate independently, it is crucial that Treasury makes more effort to maintain oversight over their allocated funds. Municipalities in the Free State are some of the worst run in the country. Many cannot service their bulk services debts, maintain sewerage systems, or provide basic services like water supply and refuse removal,” she continued.
Leech says the MEC admitted that municipalities are not performing their core functions, but the proposed interventions sound like those of previous MECs. Political will is required to squeeze municipalities into sound financial management and service delivery compliance. The ANC-run government are treading water in the run-up to the 2026 LGE.
The DAs alternatives include, among others:
Cutting administration and personnel costs within all departments
Shed non-core programmes in all departments
Invest in roads infrastructure and paying off municipal and legal debts.
A zero-tolerance towards corruption and consequence management for financial mismanagement.
“The budget tabled by the MEC today stalls progress and actively hinders the economic growth our province desperately needs. This is not a pro-economic growth budget. It is another ANC roadblock to our future prosperity, and the DA will not support it in its current form,” she concluded.
