IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH DATA ECOSYSTEMS

Capital expenditure by public sector institutions (national, provincial and local government, extra-budgetary, higher education and public sector institutions) increased by 4,8% (or R9,7 billion), from R202,8 billion in 2012 to R212,5 billion in 2013.

A disaggregation of capital expenditure by type reveals increases on plant, machinery and equipment (up R10 billion from 2012), ‘other’ fixed assets (R2 billion) and transport equipment (R1 billion).There were capital expenditure decreases on new construction works (-R3 billion), leased assets and investment property (‑R0,7 billion) and on land and existing buildings (‑R0,1 billion).

From an institutional perspective, 52% (or R111 billion) of the R212 billion was spent by public corporations, followed by municipalities (R44 billion or 21%), provincial government (R29 billion or 14%), and national government (R14 billion or 7%). The remaining R14 billion (6%) was spent by higher education institutions and extra budgetary accounts and funds.

The 2013 survey shows that expenditure for both national and provincial government was orientated more towards new construction and land and buildings. For municipalities and public corporations, capital expenditure was more concentrated on new construction and plant, machinery and equipment. In the light of the ongoing service delivery protests, there have been a number of instances reported by municipalities which reflect significant investment in facilities to address backlogs and improvements in services provided to their constituents. Some examples include the Tshwane metropolitan municipality spending an additional R238 million for basic municipal infrastructure backlogs for poor households, micro enterprises and social institutions servicing poor communities in the Mabopane, Soshanguve and Ga-Rankuwa areas; the Nelson Mandela Bay  metropolitan municipality investing an additional R105 million for sewerage mains and purification infrastructure; and the Mbombela local municipality spending R15 million more to address issues of sewerage reticulation and purification.

Regarding public corporations, expenditure for new construction decreased from R80 billion in 2012 to R68 billion in 2013, but expenditure for plant, machinery and equipment increased from R26 billion to R36 billion over the same period. This transition is due to some public corporations’ shifting their expenditure from construction to plant, machinery and equipment to the assembling of plant components.

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