Hon Chairperson, hon Ministers, hon members, Cope rises in this debate to offer some comment and support for the Division of Revenue Bill for government to continue in its functions.
I am not a member of the appropriations committee. However, my esteemed colleague, hon Leonard Ramatlakane, on whose behalf I speak, is and he has participated in the public hearings with institutions and some departments of the Division of Revenue Act.
The committee was briefed and was particularly interested to see how the Budget is aligned to the National Development Plan, NDP, process. The building blocks for the alignment of the Budget and the NDP exist, but more detailed work is required in the departmental strategic plans and the annual performance plan. The incoming committee's MPs need to pay attention to the details that link the Budget to the NDP. As is always the case, the Division of Revenue Bill sees 47,5% allocated to national government, 43,5% to provincial government and 9% to local government.
We raised some concerns about the exchangeability between conditional grants. We are concerned that departmental capacity continues to be a moving target year on year. We are warned that the programme to build departmental capacity is not yielding positive results. Much work must be done to build departmental capacity and to stop relying on the capacity of consultants as this does not come cheaply.
It was revealed to the committee through the SA Local Government Association, Salga, presentation that much work needs to be done to ensure that the Intergovernmental Relations Framework works. We cannot, year after year, have the story of the unfunded mandates whilst the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act empowers local and provincial government to jointly plan projects and developments.
We are concerned that the housing subsidy does not produce the desired results. We want to see the government act to resolve this.
We sincerely encourage the incoming committee members to take heed of these concerns that have been raised. Cope supports the Division of Revenue Bill. I thank you. [Applause.]