baby Chris Hani Baragwanath

Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko. Image: Twitter/ @NkomoNomantu.

GP Budget 2020: Healthcare under strain due to increased population

According to the GP Budget 2020, 71% of the population is now relying on public health facilities.

baby Chris Hani Baragwanath

Gauteng Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko. Image: Twitter/ @NkomoNomantu.

On Thursday 5 March, Gauteng MEC of Finance Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko presented the GP Budget 2020 at the Gauteng legislature. The most shocking detail of all was when she said healthcare is under pressure due to an increased population.  

Nkomo-Ralehoko said the increase stems from an influx of “in-migration” which basically refers to people moving into a new area in their country — in this case Gauteng — to live there permanently. 

She went on to say that 71% of the population is now relying on public facilities, putting the sector under immense pressure.

“Over the 2020 MTEF, there will be a continued focus on improving the performance of facilities to meet the National Health Standards (staff attitudes and morale, waiting times, and minimised litigation), for which an amount of R24.4 billion is directed,” said Nkomo-Ralehoko. 

The fight against HIV and AIDS and the attainment of the 90-90-90 targets. A total of R8.7 billion has been allocated,” she added.

The Gauteng Provincial Government’s budget will amount to R457.7 billion allocated for the years 2020/2021, R153.2 billion for 2021/2022 and R162.1 billion for 2022/2023. 

Here’s what the GP Budget 2020 will allocate to education 

Nkomo-Ralehoko said the province will ensure that all pupils entering the schooling system have gone through early childhood development (ECD). 

A further R2.5 billion has been allocated to complete the universalisation of Grade R and piloting the introduction of Grade RR. 

“Improvement of literacy and numeracy across grades, for which R155 million is allocated over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF),” she added. 

In order to produce skills required by the economy, R954 million has been allocated over the medium term towards schools of specialisation. A further R184.7 million has also been allocated over the MTEF to the TVET and Community College Sector.

Budget set aside to fight economic slump 

According to Nkomo-Ralehoko’s GP Budget 2020, economic growth has failed to return to the pre-global financial crisis levels, while the population growth rate in the country has outpaced it. This has resulted in declining GDP per capita ratio since 2015.

The Gauteng province provides 35% of South Africa’s economic output making it susceptible to economic challenges at the national level. 

“GDP figures released this past Tuesday confirmed that the domestic economy has declined by 1.4% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2019; the economy has entered into a technical recession,” she said. 

“The forecast for South Africa’s GDP growth for 2020 is 0.9%, 1.3% in 2021 and 1.6%  in 2022,” she added.  

GP Budget 2020 reveals four solutions: 

  • Improving own revenue collection so we can maintain and enhance support to the poor by, first and foremost, maintaining spending on education, health care, and social services;
  • Sustaining improvements in public finance management to further cut waste, eliminate corruption and strengthen public accountability; 
  • Leveraging public procurement to further transform the economic landscape and build a more inclusive and sustainable growth path; and 
  • 4. Growing our infrastructure spend through on and off-budget initiatives, so we improve public facilities and create jobs.

In a side note, she also said the legislation and industrialisation of the cannabis industry is being looked at with keen interest. 

“Legalisation could open up a R170 billion industry for South Africa,” she said. 

Other GP Budget 2020 allocations and reinforcements included: 

  • Lifestyle audits for supply chain and human resource officials are being introduced to help fight corruption and fraud;
  • 30% of Gauteng’s budget for goods and services is spent on township-based suppliers, further improving the local economies; 
  • The Identity Verification Solution has been introduced to eliminate “ghost employees” ensuring all salaries are paid out to real employees; and 
  • For the 2020 MTEF, R36,7 billion has been set aside for infrastructure. This is an increase of 9% from the 2019 allocation.