A presentation on the amended division of revenue bill paints a dire picture for the Eastern Cape, with funding for the next few years barely able to keep up with inflation and no additional reserves to drive investment in infrastructure and service delivery.
For a mother who waits all day at a rural clinic, the budget is the difference between seeing a nurse today or being told to come back next week because the post is still vacant.
In real terms, the province is standing still while service backlogs grow. Behind every rand that disappears into debt repayments stands a real person left without a teacher, a nurse, a tarred road or a farming opportunity.
The National Treasury has set aside R97.7 billion for the Eastern Cape next year and plans to increase it by only three per cent by 2027. Conditional grants are facing a staggering R717 million cut in 2026/27, before a partial recovery in 2027/28.
Flat budgets have very human consequences. Classrooms that already cram pupils shoulder to shoulder will squeeze in even more children because the funds that should pay teacher assistants and early childhood facilitators have been withdrawn.
The National Treasury has slashed a staggering R615 million from the Provincial Roads Maintenance Grant. That is enough to fund the maintenance of around 3,000 kilometres of gravel roads, trapping rural learners and ambulances in the mud.
Funding for fixing collapsing roofs and broken theatres provided through the Health Facility Revitalisation Grant will be cut by R44 million next year.
These budget cuts mean the difference between treatable illnesses and life-threatening emergencies. Families have to spend what little they have on transport to distant hospitals, because the local services are in disrepair.
Without these grants, the province cannot hope to clear the maintenance backlog that is keeping rural communities isolated and deterring investment.
In short, there is no fiscal headroom to hire more teachers, absorb unemployed doctors or rehabilitate our crumbling road network.
In light of these cuts, the DA will be tabling a motion calling on the MEC of Finance, Mlungisi Mvoko, to review the current own revenue expectations and identify additional sources of revenue for the province.
Without decisive action to grow the revenue base, cutting red tape, accelerating infrastructure development, and attracting private capital, the province will continue to limp while unemployment, poverty, and out-migration worsen.
The DA alternative puts jobs first, protects the fiscus and holds the executive to account. Our people cannot afford another year of promises without progress.