Treasury funding decrease results in Gauteng govt reducing dept spending

JOHANNESBURG - A decrease in funding from National Treasury has caused the Gauteng government to reduce its spending in its departments.

On Tuesday, Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile presented the provincial budget for the 2025/2026 financial year.

 
It comes at a time when Treasury is urging all government departments to tighten their belts.

About 90% of the Gauteng budget comes from national government, through the provisional equitable share and conditional grants.

 
The Gauteng government says new calculations to determine the share will see it lose over R6 billion in the next three financial years.

 
Maile said this explains the cuts to the infrastructure budgets for health and human settlements.

“The term 2024 to 2029, Gauteng government budget is less by R51 billion and why? The cuts related to equitable share as a result of the performance of the economy.”

Despite the cuts, the Gauteng government has increased its budget for the compensation of workers in the health and education sector, allowing it to hire more nurses, doctors, and teachers.