Mpumalanga Finance MEC Vusi Mkhantshwa tabled the province's budget of R56.44-billion on March 9.

Eighty-one per cent of the available funds were obtained through transfer receipts from the provincial equitable share, 16.1% from conditional grants and 2.9% from own revenue and other receipts.

The budget allocated for the Department of Education is R24.27-billion – higher than the budgets of all other provincial departments.

The budget allocation equates to 43% of the total provincial budget for 2022/23 and, according to the MEC, is also owing to the adaptation of the Early Childhood Development function, which will be shifted from the Department of Social Development from April 1.

The Department of Education budget is aimed at funding qualitative teaching and learning, school infrastructure, learner teacher support material; school furniture and relevant equipment, as well as to continue implementation of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative

“Education is a basic right for every child and young people in society. Investment in public education is necessary to build the national capabilities required in transforming the social and economic well-being of our society. We reiterate our call to educators to be at schools, on time, teaching and learners to be at schools, on time, learning,” said the MEC.

The second-largest component of the budget, at R16.82-billion, was allocated to the Department of Health to strengthen primary healthcare, provide medicine and medical supplies, laboratory services and procure adequate personal protective equipment to continue rolling out the vaccination programme.

“We want to call on all our people to vaccinate to limit the scourge of the virus so that we can reclaim our lives from the devastation of this pandemic.” he said.

About R1.62-billion was allocated to the department to provide psycho-social services and social relief benefits to needy families in the province.

The Department of Culture, Sport and Recreation has been allocated R604-million to drive social cohesion and nation-building programmes, preserve cultural heritage and provide support to the creative industries.

The Department of Human Settlements received R1.51-billion to coordinate and facilitate the creation of integrated human settlements.

The Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDT) was allocated R1.74-billion to drive and coordinate provincial economic growth programmes. This allocation includes transfers to provincial public entities to fulfil their economic and developmental mandates.

A special allocation of R70-million overall has been allocated to the DETD to revive tourism and drive trade and investment in the province.