Wage deal must not mean provinces need to absorb budget cuts, Alan Winde says

Provinces should not be forced to absorb budget shortfalls due to the 2023 public-sector wage agreement, Western Cape premier Alan Winde said on Tuesday,

Winde said he had written to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting that imminent reductions in the 2023 medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) be urgently placed on the agenda of the upcoming President’s Co-ordinating Council (PCC) meeting on Friday. 

“The fiscal emergency has, in large part, been created by the conclusion of the 2023/24 and 2024/25 public-service wage settlement without the requisite funding to sustain such settlement,” he said. 

“SA’s deteriorating fiscal position poses a considerable risk to, among others, essential service delivery. It is for this reason that I have repeatedly requested that this issue be discussed at the PCC as a matter of urgency.” 

Winde cautioned that severe expenditure reductions that harmed basic, constitutionally mandated services were not rational. 

“Residents, particularly the most vulnerable, will bear the brunt of these budget cuts due to the significant negative impact on service delivery. Provinces should not be forced to absorb the budget shortfall as a result of the 2023 public sector wage agreement.

“National government cannot commit provinces to expenditure by concluding wage agreements on their behalf, without providing the requisite funding.” 

The national government must, he added, according to the constitution, provide provinces with sufficient revenue to provide basic services and perform the functions allocated to them. 

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