The Democratic Alliance has proposed 58 amendments amounting to R1.37 billion to the Adjustments Appropriations Bill in order to fight drug-related crime‚ assist poor students and provide drought relief.
The proposal — rejected by Parliament’s appropriations committee — was made by DA finance spokesman David Maynier at a committee meeting on Wednesday.
The committee refused to consider the amendments on procedural grounds‚ which Maynier said was further evidence that the mini-budget’’ is simply being rammed through without proper consideration by relevant committees in Parliament.
“The fact is that African National Congress (ANC) members of the appropriations committee refused point blank to even consider any amendments to the adjustments budget which provides for 13 brand new luxury ministerial vehicles at the cost of more than R11 million‚” Maynier said.
The DA proposed a R300 million addition to the police vote to provide for the establishment of a stand-alone specialised unit within the South African Police Service‚ dedicated to the fight against drug-related crime.
It also proposed a R780 million increase to the higher education and training budget to provide assistance to poor students.
A further increase of R300 million to the cooperative governance and traditional affairs vote was proposed to provide more resources to the National Disaster Management Centre‚ for drought relief.
To finance these increases‚ the DA proposed cost-cutting measures on a number of votes‚ including saving R11 million allocated in the budget for the purchase of new ministerial vehicles.
-BusinessLIVE
DA slams ANC vote against proposal on cops and poor students
The proposal — rejected by Parliament’s appropriations committee — was made by DA finance spokesman David Maynier at a committee meeting on Wednesday.
The committee refused to consider the amendments on procedural grounds‚ which Maynier said was further evidence that the mini-budget’’ is simply being rammed through without proper consideration by relevant committees in Parliament.
“The fact is that African National Congress (ANC) members of the appropriations committee refused point blank to even consider any amendments to the adjustments budget which provides for 13 brand new luxury ministerial vehicles at the cost of more than R11 million‚” Maynier said.
The DA proposed a R300 million addition to the police vote to provide for the establishment of a stand-alone specialised unit within the South African Police Service‚ dedicated to the fight against drug-related crime.
It also proposed a R780 million increase to the higher education and training budget to provide assistance to poor students.
A further increase of R300 million to the cooperative governance and traditional affairs vote was proposed to provide more resources to the National Disaster Management Centre‚ for drought relief.
To finance these increases‚ the DA proposed cost-cutting measures on a number of votes‚ including saving R11 million allocated in the budget for the purchase of new ministerial vehicles.
-BusinessLIVE
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