Pretoria - KwaZulu-Natal Finance MEC Ina Cronje has called on politicians and residents of Msinga and Greytown to report all forms of financial ill-discipline and corrupt activities committed by public servants and those who do business with government.
Cronje made this call during her province-wide post-budget road show on Tuesday at the two settlements.
This outreach programme is meant to inform and educate people about the provincial budget and its associated priorities, as well as to get them involved in governance.
Cronje said she wanted people to check if the budget was being used appropriately, which includes improving health and education, ensuring rural development, fighting crime and corruption and creating jobs.
"We want you to hold us [government] accountable. We want the businessmen who work with government to give us quality that we pay for.
"Unfortunately, some of them over-quote and render poor service because they want to be rich overnight. They charge us for a Rolls Royce and deliver a wheel barrow. Government is not a cash cow," she said.
Head of Treasury, Simiso Magagula, said the purpose of the visit was to unpack in detail the budget speech tabled at the Provincial Legislature last month.
He also said it was important because the budget reflected the priorities emphasised by President Jacob Zuma in the State of the Nation Address earlier this year.
"The business sector must work with government to create jobs at a bigger scale. But we also want input from everyone, which will be considered when putting together the next budget," he said.
Some of the input raised by both business people and communities include the need for government to organise more outreach programmes to educate communities about the budget, so that there can be a decrease in service delivery protests.
Residents also stressed that since the country was moving towards implementing the National Health Insurance, rural communities must be given more information on this and how it impacts on them and the budget.
Welcome Mhlambo, a Msinga resident, said local business people need to be uplifted through doing more business with government.
He said they would like benefits that include catering and entertainment, among others. - BuaNews
