Municipalities in the Western Cape will receive one-million-rand each over the next three years to boost their capability to deal with service delivery protests. This was revealed by the province’s Finance Minister, Ivan Meyer, during a media briefing on his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement in the provincial legislature on Thursday.
The provincial government has made available R210 billion over the next three years to address needs on five key areas such as job creation, infrastructure investment, youth economic empowerment, safety and security as well as addressing the effects of drought.
“We have a core constitutional responsibility that relates to the provision of housing the provision of educational facilities but also the provision of health facilities and transport and public works, those are our core constitutional responsibilities and we are particularly proud that we maintain fiscal discipline over the next through this 210 billion rand budget,” says Meyer.
Meyer says education and human settlements are some of the focal areas where money will be spent. He says service delivery protests are crippling the local economy and impacting negatively on infrastructure development. Meyer says while service delivery protests are protected by law most of these are politically motivated in light of the general elections next year.
