The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) notes the budget speech delivered by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan yesterday in Parliament.

DENOSA welcomes the budget emphasis on social spending and on the development of infrastructure which off course compliments pronouncements made by President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation Address. We believe this will go a long way in ensuring that the country creates more job opportunities.

DENOSA is however, concerned about the increase in the budget deficit (projected at 4.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012/13) that has been a trend over the last few years.

In this regard, we hope that government plans to reduce the deficit to 3 per cent of GDP in 2014/15 will indeed materialise.

We reject the e-tolling system completely as it will hit hard on the pockets of the travelling workers. Government should instead look at alternative ways of funding our roads.

We wish to reiterate our unwavering support for the implementation of the National Health Insurance which is envisaged to be phased out over a 14-year period beginning in 2012/13. However, the proposed funding model of looking at increasing VAT will put more strain on the working class and for this reason we reject it.

DENOSA is encouraged by the announcement that the Treasury will appoint a Chief Procurement Officer to monitor procurement across government. This will assist the country in rooting out corruption.

We are delighted that Health will receive an additional R12.3 billion over the next three years with R45 m allocated to nursing colleges. This indeed is a good step in dealing with the chronic staff shortages in nursing and in ensuring that we have sufficient personnel to deliver healthcare.

Having said that, we did not hear much from Minister Gordhan as to how government plans to improve the conditions of service including salaries of civil servants. We hope that in his budget vote, Public Service and Administration Minister Roy Padayachie will elaborate on this vital issue.

DENOSA welcomes the R968 million that will be made available to accommodate provision of ARV treatment over the medium term.

Significantly, we wish to caution that the budget allocations outlined by Minister Gordhan will be in vain if proper monitoring and evaluation processes are not followed.

Asanda Fongqo
Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa