The Western Cape Treasury has spent R1.7 billion on COVID-19 programmes across departments and public entities in the 2020/21 financial year. This was published in the fifth edition of the Procurement Disclosure Report.
According to the report, the amount was spent from April to October. The provincial public entities total COVID-19 expenditure was R2.9 billion.
The report details all personal protective equipment (PPE), procurement and expenditure in the province in response to the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde says he’s deeply concerned about the growing COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations in the province. While regulations have been relaxed to give the economy a chance to recover, Winde says people are becoming less compliant with safety measures like mask-wearing and social distancing.
The Cape Town Metro along with the Garden Route are the two main drivers of increasing COVID-19 cases in the Western Cape.
Winde says they are trying to avoid a complete lockdown situation.
“I am very concerned about the Garden Route as we are about to go into the summer season. I have asked our team to look at anything that hasn’t been tried before but tried in other parts of the world. We really are looking at what all the possibilities are.”
“For me, the most important thing is to avoid a lockdown because a lockdown destroys the economy which we cannot afford. So we need to find alternative mechanisms in the investigations we are having,” explains Winde.
Western Cape Premier Winde:
