THE general view of how the Eastern Cape government is performing according to PREMIER Noxolo Kiviet believes that steady progress is being made in the areas of governance and service delivery in the Eastern Cape.
Kiviet was speaking to a National Council of Provinces (NCOP) delegation, which is on a week-long visit to the province to assess progress in delivering services around the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM).
Kiviet yesterday told the delegation, led by ANC MP Zukiswa Rantho, that the outlook for economic growth in the prov ince “remains positive, albeit at a slower pace”.
However, presenting a report to highlight service delivery progress in the province, Kiviet said the balance of trade, driven by the manufacturing and automotive sectors specifically, remained negative.
She said it wasn’t fair that The premier also raised concerns that the province’s performance was judged against provinces that, unlike the Eastern Cape, were not mostly rural, under developed and disadvantaged.
Kiviet said the national government’s budget allocation formula didn’t work in the province’s favour as it calculated according to the number of people in the province and not the province’s level of under development.
“Which then distorts our own budget as a province in such a way that we are unable to compete fairly with other provinces.
“The Eastern Cape has a legacy of high levels of in equality and poverty and lags behind the South African av erage.
“Some of the challenges we face in the Eastern Cape are also national challenges, but we cannot be judged by the standards of other provinces as if we had moved from the same baseline – we have al ways been disadvantaged by underdevelopment.
“When we talk about the legacy of inequality, most people tend to be opportunistic and deal with this matter as if we are a province that just sits and does nothing.
“It worries me that even people from our province portray this image.
“We all know that when you run a race, everyone stands on the same line and runs from the same base.
“As a nation, we seem to deal with the challenge of in equality in so far as it affects individuals; we don’t deal with it in so far as it affects provinces. “We seem to want to run with other provinces as if we have moved from the same base while we have moved from a base far behind and yet we are expected to be equal to others, thats not fair," Kiviet told the meeting also attended by members of her executive council. She said when budget allocations were made nationally, the formula’s emphasis depended more on the number of people and less on underdevelopment. Kiviet said the province had challenged the allocation system, and the national government was reviewing the formula, despite resistance from certain political parties.
“The challenge is, do we fol low the party line or the province’s line; do we put the interests of the party first or do we put the interests of the province first?
“If we are to be fair, honest and committed to our man date, we need to be committed to the interests of the province, and not the party.
“The interests of our province now, is to get the formula linked to economic development because if it is not, we will continue to face the same challenges we have always faced,” said the premier.
After visiting numerous sites in the district The NCOP delegation will brief provincial politicians on their findings tomorrow on Thursday. —
Kiviet says economic growth not bad in EC
Kiviet was speaking to a National Council of Provinces (NCOP) delegation, which is on a week-long visit to the province to assess progress in delivering services around the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM).
Kiviet yesterday told the delegation, led by ANC MP Zukiswa Rantho, that the outlook for economic growth in the prov ince “remains positive, albeit at a slower pace”.
However, presenting a report to highlight service delivery progress in the province, Kiviet said the balance of trade, driven by the manufacturing and automotive sectors specifically, remained negative.
She said it wasn’t fair that The premier also raised concerns that the province’s performance was judged against provinces that, unlike the Eastern Cape, were not mostly rural, under developed and disadvantaged.
Kiviet said the national government’s budget allocation formula didn’t work in the province’s favour as it calculated according to the number of people in the province and not the province’s level of under development.
“Which then distorts our own budget as a province in such a way that we are unable to compete fairly with other provinces.
“The Eastern Cape has a legacy of high levels of in equality and poverty and lags behind the South African av erage.
“Some of the challenges we face in the Eastern Cape are also national challenges, but we cannot be judged by the standards of other provinces as if we had moved from the same baseline – we have al ways been disadvantaged by underdevelopment.
“When we talk about the legacy of inequality, most people tend to be opportunistic and deal with this matter as if we are a province that just sits and does nothing.
“It worries me that even people from our province portray this image.
“We all know that when you run a race, everyone stands on the same line and runs from the same base.
“As a nation, we seem to deal with the challenge of in equality in so far as it affects individuals; we don’t deal with it in so far as it affects provinces. “We seem to want to run with other provinces as if we have moved from the same base while we have moved from a base far behind and yet we are expected to be equal to others, thats not fair," Kiviet told the meeting also attended by members of her executive council. She said when budget allocations were made nationally, the formula’s emphasis depended more on the number of people and less on underdevelopment. Kiviet said the province had challenged the allocation system, and the national government was reviewing the formula, despite resistance from certain political parties.
“The challenge is, do we fol low the party line or the province’s line; do we put the interests of the party first or do we put the interests of the province first?
“If we are to be fair, honest and committed to our man date, we need to be committed to the interests of the province, and not the party.
“The interests of our province now, is to get the formula linked to economic development because if it is not, we will continue to face the same challenges we have always faced,” said the premier.
After visiting numerous sites in the district The NCOP delegation will brief provincial politicians on their findings tomorrow on Thursday. —
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