KZN MEC Francois Rodgers’ budget prioritises health and education

More than 10,300 educator assistants will be employed in KwaZulu-Natal after the provincial Treasury allocated R66.7bn to the education department.

Tabling his budget speech at the provincial legislature in Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday, finance MEC Francois Rodgers said the KZN government had prioritised education by increasing its spending by R3.7bn.

“Education receives funds towards addressing the budget pressures that have been evident since the commencement of the fiscal consolidation budget cuts. The department also receives funds for the 2025 wage agreement gap, as well as the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative.

“The funds for the employment initiative will be used to employ 10,322 educator assistants in 2025/26 on 12-month contracts. The department’s total budget has therefore increased by R3.7bn year on year, from R62.9bn to R66.7bn,” said Rodgers.

He said the education infrastructure grant will be increased by R93m to R2.5bn.

“This grant is incentive based and the department scored well, achieving 84% in term of submitting planning documentation and showing capacity to spend. The department is congratulated on this excellent achievement,” he said.

Rodgers said the early childhood development grant will receive an increase of R17.4m to support the infrastructure component of the grant towards the provision of adequate ECD facilities, adding that the budget for the grant is R308.6m in 2025/26.

He said the national school nutrition programme grant will receive an increase of R33.3m in 2025/26, resulting in a budget of R2.3bn.

“It is noted that this grant showed spending pressures in the current year and this allocation will assist in addressing these shortfalls,” he said.

Rodgers said the government increased the budget of the health department from R52bn to R56bn. 

“The health facility revitalisation grant is increased by R76.2m to R1.5bn.  The district health programmes grant increases by R34.6m to a total of R7.5bn,” he said, adding that 35% of the province’s R158bn budget will be directed to the health department. 

Rodgers said the province would appoint youths who will become gender based violence (GBV) activists providing support to victims.

“Community safety and liaison will receive funding to support community safety structures with items such as safety vests, two-way radios, hats/caps, as well as for training and for out-of-pocket expenses for these structures.

The funds are also for an electronic complaints management system for complaints management of police services, as well as GBV activists at police stations. Furthermore, the funds are for the placement of law graduates in police stations, so that police officers are better equipped to handle legal challenges, thus improving compliance with the law,” he said.

He said the agriculture and rural development department will receive funds for communal livestock production, the fight against foot and mouth disease,  and new laboratory equipment.

“Transport will receive funding to start rightsizing the budget for learner transport which has shown budget pressures in recent years. After allocating these funds, there is still a shortfall in the baseline,” Rodgers said, adding that social the development department receives R3.6bn.

Rodgers said the provincial roads maintenance grant also sees a significant increase of R874.6m, resulting in a budget of R3.5bn. 

The KZN Treasury is also exploring the establishment of an information centre.

“It will focus on ‘operation pay on time’ and help with tender processes and supplying information on public-private partnerships, ” he said.