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Budget indaba
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Premier's Office

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

Speech by Premier Makhenkesi Stofile

at the

Budget Indaba
 The Political Framework
 24 June 1999



Dear Colleagues
 Ladies and Gentlemen

A few days ago the Daily Dispatch reported Mr Eddie Trent of the DP as complaining that my speech last Friday was "another history lesson". 
What he probably do not know is that History was one of my majors at University. As such it is one of the areas where I am strong. Any 
reasonable person begins where s/he is strong before exploring unknown areas. So I am no exception. Furthermore, only those who are hiding 
something in their past tend to shy away from history. The guilty are afraid, as the saying goes. Our history is the basis on which we 
judge whether we are making progress in moving from one situation to another. Without it we may just run in circles and think that we are 
making progress. So today too, I must rely heavily on history in trying to explain why we need a good and viable budget.

On the 26 June 1955 the people of SA sent delegates to a little town of Kliptown to what became known as the Congress of the people. These 
delegates had to produce some kind of blue print of the type of SA they wanted. This Conference was convened after the months of collecting 
the views of our people from all walks of life. The end product was the Freedom Charter (F.C.).

The opening part of the FC reads as follows:

"We the people of SA, declare for all our country and the world to know:

* That SA belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will 
of the people".

It is common knowledge that in all these more than three hundred (300) years of recorded history, SA only had her democratic government 
from 1994. This year we saw our people (all of them) going to the polls again. By a majority of 66 % the ANC was returned as the Majority 
Party to rule SA. Many people voted for different parties. But it was the ANC that received most of the votes. So we can justly claim 
authority ad legitimacy. This is what freedom and democracy means. A start has been made in the establishment of a free, non-racist, non-
sexist and democratic order in our land. We all have the responsibility to defend this order.

The last paragraph of the FC end as follows:

"Let all who love their people and their country now say, as we say: &#145;These freedoms we will fight for, side by side, throughout our 
lives, until we have won our liberty".

I believe this to be a fitting pledge for all of us even in 1999. Those who do not love the people and the country do not deserve to be in 
our government. This is so because governance is not just about jobs. It is about the opportunity to serve our people and our country.

THE BUDGETING PROCESS

The former apartheid system was racially segregated, as we know. The allocation of resources was also on racial gradation basis. This total 
and blatant ignoring of paragraph 3 of the FC led to unprecidented disparities in planning, development ad socio-economic needs. The truth 
of the matter is that to this day we are still stared in our faces by that legacy of unequal access to resources and development. The 
Apartheid skeleton continues to gloat at us with gaunt eyes. We are challenged, nay, mandated, by the electorate to transform the 
situation. To create a new SA and an equitable social order.

The different Parties produced different manifestoes, all purporting to be blue prints for change. But it is the ANC’s Manifesto that got 
the overwhelming nod of the electorate. It does not really matter which party the individual civil servants voted for. The reality is that 
they ALL must implement the ANC manifesto. We are the ruling Party again. All the pre-June 2nd dreams must be forgotten. There is only one 
Government in power with one manifesto.

The essence of the ANC manifesto, which ALL must have copies of, is: accelerated delivery of services. In doing so the government is 
enjoined to forge strategic partnerships with the rest of society. The task of politicians (Members of the Executive Council) is to 
strategise how to meet the challenges enunciated in the manifesto. They have to remember that although they are responsible for different 
Departments, we are one Government. So the strategising process has to be a collective and co-ordinated effort.

Officials, on the other hand, must implement both the strategies and tactics emerging from the ruling Party. There can be no deviation from 
these. As such, the budgeting process is not a mere crunching of numbers of civil servants. It is a serious political activity to be driven 
by politicians. The implementation of policy also has to be driven by politicians, although implemented by civil servants. The new 
Amendment to the Public Service Act which comes into effect from the 1st July 1999 is very strong on this. So, we have to form a united 
team that is informed of what we want to achieve, when we want to achieve it and how we want to achieve it. All players have a role.

THE BUDGET AS A TOOL

The budget is the most important tool in the hand of a government for the implementation of its policies. But unfortunately, it is not an 
unlimited resource. As such, it has to be used wisely and managed efficiently. Politicians should map out government priorities WITHIN 
available resources. Our Minister of Finance’s favourite phrase is: "Budget is Law". We fully agree with him. Parliament and the 
Legislatures vote for the budget, thereby legislating how much should be used for what in a particular financial year. Departments must 
then use the resources with great responsibility to maximise their utilisation.

But the above can only happen if we have a reliable data to work from. We must know what our statutory obligations are (e.g. Personnel 
expenditure; social security; transfers to local government etc.). We must also weed out the tendency of "discovering" three year old debts 
in a current financial year. This disorganises a budget and the plans. In short, we have to produce a credible and sustainable budget for 
the year 2000. Failing this we cannot accelerate service delivery in the prioritised areas of social needs.

MTEF AND GEAR

The operating Government for allocating resources and preparing the budget is the MTEF (3 year cycles) formular. The current Government 
policy for generating the recquisite resources is the GEAR. These have been challenged and criticised in the past. Some of their critics 
must use them now. There is no choice in the matter. Whilst politicians must continue seeking for the right / most appropriate policy and 
formula in the right fora, we ALL have to work within current policies and formulae. Again, in the words of Minister Manual; "this is the 
Law".

PARTICIPATION

Our Constitution enjoins government to be transparent and inclusive. This must apply to the budgeting process too. All stake holders and 
regions of the Provincial Government must be afforded space to participate in the process. But we must not delay the process in the pretext 
of "consulting broadly". We must also avoid producing inpracticable wish lists. The process has very tight time-frames. Transparency does 
not mean nakedness. The Government must still govern after all is said and done. We must not abdicate that mandate from the electorate.

Our war-cry should be: Efficient use of what we have, for the acceleration of service delivery to our people.

This we must do with sincerity and a sense of great urgency.

Good Luck to us all.

REV M.A. STOFILE

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