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Johannesburg - The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) is pleased that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's Budget aims to achieve the goals of the National Development Plan (NDP).
"We welcome the minister’s commitment to infrastructure development, skills development and job creation," general secretary Johan Koen said in a statement on Wednesday.
The union welcomed Gordhan's statements that the fight against corruption would be strengthened, and that social spending was not a substitute for job creation.
Sustainable economic growth and development would take place once unemployment, inequality and poverty had been tackled.
The union was pleased that R827bn had been allocated to infrastructure and that spending this would be the responsibility of provinces and municipalities.
With the 2011 Census indicating that 62% of South Africans lived in towns and cities, the population of some municipalities had grown by over 50% between 2001 and 2011, said Koen.
"In order for local government to provide excellent service delivery, both urban and rural municipalities must be equipped with the correct skills, resources and infrastructure to get the job done."
Imatu was cautiously optimistic about the new formula for calculating the local government equitable share, as it recognised that municipalities needed to be better differentiated.
The union was particularly happy to see provision had been made for municipal water infrastructure, public transport and integrated city development.
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