Through a parliamentary question, it has been revealed that the Provincial Treasury has approved six projects by various provincial departments which seek to find affordable and new ways of delivering services to the residents of the Western Cape. This includes a dedicated tele-health programme and the home delivery of chronic medication. A total of 109 applications were submitted for the Fiscal Transition Support Facility’s nearly R250 million funding which is a once-off capital injection to help departments restructure and launch new technologies and service delivery methods.
MPP Deidré Baartman says: “Through the Medium Term Budget, we have seen that provinces’ budgets will not keep pace with inflation, meaning that while things get more expensive, the resource pool continues to shrink. Over the next three years, the Western Cape will lose R8.4 billion from the provincial budget and so, it is more critical than ever that the provincial government finds cost effective ways of serving residents without compromising the service delivery of departments. It also cushions departments from large cuts to their budgets and buys them crucial time in order to restructure and continue to do more with less.
The six projects that were improved included:
- A tele-health programme and the home delivery of chronic medication programme by the Department of Health, will receive a R109 million allocation to assist residents across the province to gain access to quality healthcare.
- The allocation of R1.35 million for the digitisation of the Western Cape archives to preserve and protect our cultural and historical documents as well as to improve access of our shared heritage.
- The Department of Agriculture received R5 million for the development of on-site battery infrastructure for energy storage as part of the government’s commitment to ending loadshedding in the Western Cape.
- In line with the commitment of a transparent and corruption-free government, R2 million has been set aside for an e-procurement solution for the Provincial Treasury.
The budget crunch created will be a reality for the foreseeable future. The lockdown restrictions and the poor economic performance of South Africa for the last decade has meant that more residents have needed to turn to government support than ever before. By doing more than less, we can protect the dignity, safety and well-being of every resident.”