Fairer and transparent KZN budget urgently needed

As one of South Africa’s most populous provinces, KZN faces immense pressure to deliver quality services – with the departments of education, health, social development, transport, and public works serving as the central engines of service delivery.

This is according to the DA in KZN, which says the 2025 Division of Revenue Bill forms the cornerstone of the province’s fiscal framework.

DA KZN Spokesperson on Finance, Tim Brauteseth, says this Bill determines how nationally-raised revenue is distributed across the three spheres of government.

He says there needs to be a greater focus on the Bill’s implications for KZN’s government departments and municipalities.

In education, Brauteseth said, while allocations have increased nominally, they fail to keep pace with inflation, rising pupil numbers, and infrastructure backlogs.

“This, while our rural schools continue to operate without proper sanitation, libraries, or digital access. We call for a ringfenced infrastructure grant for rural schools and performance-linked incentives for provinces that improve literacy and numeracy outcomes,” said Brauteseth.

Meanwhile, in health, he said the provincial hospitals and clinics are under strain due to staff shortages, outdated equipment.

Despite funds intended for medicine being ringfenced, he said poor management of medicine stockpiles hampers timely delivery, to the ultimate detriment of patients.

Moreover, Brauteseth added that the social development allocations remain modest despite growing demand.

“During recent public hearings, citizens raised concerns about the funding of NPOs that deliver critical services.

“KZN’s departments of transport and public works face similar challenges. Road maintenance and infrastructure upgrades are essential for economic development, yet funding remains unspent in the case of transport; close to R1-billion will remain unspent,” he said.

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