More support for local providers
Up to R7.2bn in local goods and services — produced and supplied by local businesses or individuals — will be procured by the Eastern Cape provincial government in the coming financial year.
This figure represents some 50% of all goods and services to be bought by the provincial administration in the next financial year.
This is just one way in which government believes it can boost economic activity in the province. It also wants to focus on youth development and push agriculture.
Finance MEC Mlungisa Mvoko said that for the first three quarters of 2019, the province spent about R6.6bn with local suppliers of goods and services and the improvement in total spend will mean more money in the pockets of local businesses.
Given that small, medium and micro enterprises can be more labour intensive businesses, the MEC said that focusing on SMMEs would boost economic growth.
Government will also spend R527m during the next financial year on initiatives that will affect about 18,114 youths, out of R1.2bn that will be spent over the medium term, targeting 51,252 young people.
These initiatives will involve 1,719 interns in government, 3,057 young people participating in learnerships, 5,458 youth in community works programmes, 2,787 in EPWP programmes, 120 placed on commercial farms, 410 youth place in the maritime sector, and 975 young people who will benefit from bursaries offered internally by government.
In the agriculture sector, some R7.5bn has been set aside over the medium term, of which R2.4bn will be spent during the 2020 financial year, which will include R176m specifically for food security initiatives.
“Structured vocational training” in agriculture, and Forestry and Fisheries, will be promoted through a R184m allocation “to capacitate our farmers and potential farmers in the sector”.
The MEC said that any investments in agriculture “without investing in people” would be in vain. Given the hugely negative impact of the drought on rural and urban communities, government has also allocated R60m this year for drilling boreholes, scooping dams and distributing livestock feed to affected farmers, with further funds in the MTEF. Government has also allocated R4.5m for this next financial year to exploit opportunities in the cannabis industry through issuing permits, conducting awareness campaigns, training and development that is related to cannabis and research.
The Magwa tea estate’s operations systems will also be shored up with a R15m allocation in 2020 — half of the medium term vote — to ensure long-term sustainability. Government was happy that the situation had been improving at the estate, in line with the resolution that state-owned entities must be “competitive and efficient”.