By During her budget vote speech last week Friday, the Free State MEC for the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure Ms Dibolelo Mance promised to never give up on the agenda of improving the quality of lives for residents.
Mance presented a R2 107 billion budget for the 2024/25 financial year, where she said the budget will also be used to professionalise her department to ensure its efficiency. The administration of Public Works and Infrastructure will receive special attention and continue its excellent performance.
According to the MEC, in the 2023/24 fiscal year, the department managed to achieve all three of its targets, namely skills development, recruitment and the 100% compliance for the financial disclosure framework.
Mance said her department further complied with the lifestyle audit imperatives introduced in the Public Service by the Department of Public Service and Administration and eighty six (86) life style reviews were concluded.
“In this current 2024/2025 financial year the Department has prioritised the professional development of employees bearing in mind that a competent well trained workforce is a requisite for achievement of departmental objectives. For this financial year, the Department is targeting twenty two (22) training intervention.
We will also invest Nine hundred and fifty thousand rands (R950 000) for staff on salary levels 2-4 to undergo the compulsory Ethics training which is one of the cornerstone skills development interventions primed at contributing to an ethical public service,” said MEC Dibolelo Mance.
Mance said the Provincial Government has property valued at R12 billion, her department will see to it to maintain the 4890 immovable assets as they contribute towards investment value and revenue potential of the Province.
“The Department will develop a comprehensive Revenue Enhancement Strategy that seeks to maximise returns on the use of government properties to generate income for the province. In implementing this strategy, the Department has identified dilapidated buildings that are being refurbished for office accommodation use by client departments,” Dibolelo Mance.
MEC Mance said as the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is celebrating its 20th year anniversary this year, the sixth administration managed to create 293 265 job opportunities for people against the five years target of 262 000.
“Coupled with this service the programme is now transitioning to phase five of implementation, with a five year target of creating 5 million work opportunities nationally by March 2029,” said Dibolelo Mance.
Mance tabled her budget as follows:
Administration 175 004
Public Works Infrastructure 1 875 521
EPWP 56 861
