The Democratic Alliance has rejected the Eastern Cape Budget for the 2025/26 financial year, as it has failed to address the needs of the people. Instead, it entrenches mismanagement, underperformance, and misplaced priorities that have come to define this provincial administration.
For the grandmother waiting hours at a rural clinic, the learner walking kilometres on unsafe roads, or the young graduate still unemployed years after leaving school, this budget offers no change. It deepens despair where there should be hope.
The DA cannot support the budget in its current form. We specifically reject the allocations to the Provincial Legislature, as well as the Departments of Health, Education, Economic Development, Transport, and Community Safety. These votes demonstrate, once again, that financial planning without accountability is meaningless.
Health is fundamentally unfunded. The department is burdened by over R7 billion in accruals and a further R1.7 billion overdraft. No verifiable financial recovery plan has been presented. There is no evidence of progress, nor is there a commitment to resolve the crisis.
Education has no credible plan to address the R82 billion school infrastructure backlog. Less than 5% of the department’s allocation goes towards infrastructure, and even less towards durable, brick-and-mortar improvements. Persistent vacancy rates, where only 60% of posts are filled year after year, mean schools are left without teachers, support staff, or basic administration. This budget abandons a generation.
The Department of Economic Development has increased spending, but with no tangible return. Executive salaries at state-owned entities climb while vital sectors like agro-processing and tourism languish. Unfilled posts, duplications, and poor enforcement continue.
Environmental degradation goes unchecked, and the promised rationalisation of public entities remains stalled.
Transport remains a humanitarian crisis. Close to 50,000 learners are still left behind on the side of the road, stranded without access to education due to the chronic mismanagement of the Scholar Transport Programme. Instead of offering intervention, the scholar transport budget is slashed from R1 billion to R794 million, a 28% reduction!
In a province where you are more likely to be raped or murdered than anywhere else in South Africa, Community Safety is significantly underfunded, with little to no funds being made available to meaningfully support SAPS on the ground.
The Legislature’s own allocation also cannot be supported. It is marred by inefficiency, escalating Cost of Employment, and a lack of institutional reform. A credible Legislature must lead by example.
The DA believes budgets should reflect people, not politics. They must prioritise safety, education, healthcare, and economic opportunity.
What we see in this budget is a government clinging to outdated structures, unfunded promises, and unchecked waste. The DA will continue to fight for a capable state that places people at the centre of policy, and integrity at the heart of spending.
The Eastern Cape cannot afford another year of failure disguised as progress. The DA stands for a future rooted in dignity, opportunity, and accountable government. That future will not be built on this budget.