Balancing the books is only the beginning

Gordhan’s Budget speech must translate into measurable action

And that’s not good news in a predominantly consumer-driven economy.

Meanwhile, the private sector reportedly sits on R460bn which it is not investing in SA – a situation widely interpreted as a sign of no confidence in its home country.

This week’s parliamentary debate on Zuma’s State of the Nation address brought out the big guns first: Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel, Public Enterprises Minister Malusi Gigaba and Minister in the Presidency for National Planning Trevor Manuel.

All tackled the infrastructure development-driven gover nment agenda from a slightly different perspective, but the message was similar: the government’s investment in infrastructure development would unleash investment in other areas, boost the country’s manufacturing base and create a better life for all.

While Patel drew attention to the link between job creation and industrialisation and highlighted poverty alleviation in the 23 poorest rural areas, Gigaba stressed the role of state-owned entities and co-operation with the private sector to write “a growth story that is unique”.

Manuel, whose National Planning Commission vision for SA in 2030 talks of an active citizenry, a capable, ethical state and job-creating economic growth, simply said: “If we don’t strike out bravely, the cleavages in our society will simply deepen.”

On Wednesday afternoon Gordhan must put the rands and cents to that vision.

But figures are difficult at the best of times.

With a target of creating five million jobs by 2020, the state’s wage bill has ballooned as the government, in the wake of private-sector reluctance to take up various incentives, takes the lead in creating jobs – from short-term opportunities through public works and community build efforts to the rural development youth corps and various antipoverty campaigns using volunteers on stipends.

But there are only about five million taxpayers, who carry the load of generating cash for government coffers. Unemployment stands at 39 percent, using the expanded figure which includes discouraged job seekers who have simply given up as door after door is slammed in their face. And there are an estimated three million young people aged 18 to 24 who are not in jobs or in higher education, but sitting unproductively at home or on the streets, often without hope.

As the ministers this week talked up the bricks and mortar of infrastructure development, alongside the less tangible creation and transfer of skills, not much was said about implementation.

Gordhan’s financial plan for the country to back up the development vision will make very little difference unless the government gets its house in order. Ministers’ luxury hotel sprees and car acquisitions have hit headlines repeatedly since this administration came into office in 2009. About R26.3bn was wasted in unauthorised spending last year across all three spheres of government. And the fraught state of finances in several provinces, not just Limpopo, the Eastern Cape or Free State, where the national government has intervened, continues to create headaches.

Only seven of SA’S 237 municipalities obtained clean audits – while Cape Town was one of them, Joburg, Pretoria and Durban didn’t feature – yet the target of a clean bill of health for all is a mere 22 months away under the government’s Operation Clean Audit initiative.

But municipalities and provinces simply must do their jobs and spend the infrastructure grants they will again receive from the national government on Wednesday, be they for bulk service delivery like water and sanitation or other developments. This is even more imperative now that councils can receive 40 percent of funds in advance for public works projects like schools.

The reality is that lackadaisical civil servants and lack of implementation mean thousands of children continue to study under trees or mud huts, particularly in the Eastern Cape.

And Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale can spend R499 000 on furniture for his offices – and reportedly bill his administration tens of thousands of rand for using his private car, while two luxury government cars stand idle – but no school textbooks were ordered because of a cash shortage.

In Limpopo, some service providers are paid up to eight times a month, while nationally small businesses complain of the government’s slow settlement of accounts, regardless of the 30-day regulation.

Support systems like the agricultural extension programme, aimed at supporting emerging farmers, must be made to work to end ongoing reports of redistributed farmland lying fallow in various provinces because new settlers lack support, tools and commercial know-how. This is vital not only for food security and a sustainable rural economy, but also to help stem the tide of migration to urban areas where infrastructure is increasingly stressed.

Absurdities in government, now intent on meeting targets by hook or by crook, must end. During this week’s ministerial briefings the Human Settlements Department said it had cut the number of established informal settlements, while just around the corner in the parliamentary precinct the police top brass pinpointed mushrooming shacklands as crime hotspots.

If Gordhan gives the police more money for the fight against crime, what measures are in place to ensure there’s no repeat of the deeply embarrassing R1.3bn headoffice lease debacle – and that those scores of police stations still without water, electricity or sanitation finally get what they need?

All the ministers’ talk of infrastructure, growth, empowerment and economic development means nothing when those meant to implement them are not on board – be it because of red tape, incompetence, corruption through tenderpreneurs or political allegiance to one or other faction in the ANC ahead of the Mangaung national conference, where a new leadership may emerge.

Take the example of Mr Sibiya, a North West businessman, who 18 months ago invested in a factory related to the heavy truck and trailer business, creating 200 jobs. He also needed to raise funds and approached the provincial development corporation and the Industrial Development Corporation, without much luck. “I’ve done everything in my power. I have not just asked for funds,” he told Zuma last week, adding that his furniture had now been seized.

“I don’t know why there are difficulties,” responded the president. “I’ve got government people here to deal with the issue immediately.”

But it shouldn’t take the president’s intervention to get the job done. Unlike tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, Mr Sibiya had about R800 to spend on a business breakfast and several thousand rand to fly to Cape Town.

So when Gordhan puts the rand and cents to each of the 37 Budget votes, he is giving all the government and its public servants the tools to turn the words spoken at Parliament into reality. But the proof will be in the pudding – in actual roads, railways, dams, skills and jobs.