Debating the budget earlier today, the official opposition said the MEC for Treasury, Gadija Brown, has in the provincial budget failed to make provision for critical areas such as the agricultural sector amidst the on-going drought.

The DA’s leader Roy Jankielsohn, in a statement, says they are concerned that the provincial government has only allocated R11 million for disaster relief and that none has thus far reached farmers on the ground. He says the economic impact of drought on farmers has serious implications for the province’s economy and employment opportunities and was therefore supposed to be prioritised in the budget.

The EFF’s Mandisa Makeseni further confirms to OFM News that they objected the budget on the grounds that it fails to answer critical questions on how the provincial government plans to grow the economy, deal with the debacle faced in municipalities, and improve service delivery, but are pleased that multimillion-rand events such as Macufe, the Free State Madeira Flower Festival, and other government events are cancelled in efforts to combat the spread of the Coronavirus and channel funds into measures aimed at eradicating the pandemic.

Premier Sisi Ntombela, alongside Health Minister Zweli Mkhize during a media briefing on Friday in Bloemfontein, confirmed that all major annual Free State events are cancelled and that funds earmarked to these events will be re-directed towards the fight against Covid-19.

Ntombela and Mkhize were briefing the media after the Free State recorded its first cases of the Coronavirus yesterday, making it the first province in Central South Africa to record such cases.

They confirmed seven people in the province have thus far tested positive for the virus.

OFM News