Budgets

Review and recommendations based on the budgeting process in the Northern Cape.A key instrument in managing districts successfully is the skilful use of budgeting. For this to happen, authority to set budgets needs to be decentralised. This brief outlines the budgeting process in the Northern Cape, and describes the first steps required to start its decentralisation.

It takes little more than an hour for the Minister of Finance to present a new national budget to parliament each February. But it has taken more than a year to prepare that budget.

This guide for legislators is about the process leading up to that budget speech, and what happens immediately after it has been presented. The budget process has changed a lot since South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, and further changes are likely. So the budget process, like South Africa itself, is in a process of transition.

In order for the health workers (managers, clinicians and support staff) in a district to work efficiently and effectively, they should have as much control over what they do as possible. One of the key areas where districts should have their say is in the management of resources in the district. This means, in effect, that districts should have the accountability and responsibility for financial decision making, and therefore control over staffing.