Note to Broadcasters: Please find the attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Hendriëtte van Huyssteen.
The DA believes that the upcoming 2026/2027 Provincial Budget Speech must prioritise real investment in opportunity rather than continuing the cycle of ANC patronage that has failed to deliver meaningful progress for the people of the province.
Last year’s budget speech showed the provincial government’s repeated commitment to promote economic growth through schemes like the North West Development Fund, which received a R100 million allocation to enhance the economy. One year later, no evidence has been presented of any lives changed by this pledge by the NW government, adding it to another failed election pledge by the ANC. Historically, isolated funds without institutional reform lead to empty gestures such as the North West Development Fund, which fails to address the underlying issues of governance and accountability that are necessary for meaningful economic development, ultimately resulting in continued poverty and lack of opportunity for the residents of the North West province.
Under DA governance, focus in the NW Provincial Appropriation Bill would dramatically be diverted to four vital departments where systemic disinterest has the greatest potential to be put to rest and dignity restored: Education, Health, Social Development and Public Works and Roads.
The DA’s Economic Justice Policy emphasises education as the cornerstone of opportunity – literally the ladder out of inequality. We need to spend more on quality education, better training for teachers, a decrease in dropouts, and a whole-school, child-centered response to disrupt cycles of disadvantage.
The state of health facilities is a grave indictment of the ANC rule in NW, as they have failed to provide adequate resources and infrastructure necessary for effective healthcare delivery, which has resulted in poor health outcomes for the population and exacerbated existing inequalities. The DA’s vision is that clinics need to be well equipped and adequately staffed with dependable medicine supply networks. Investing here is an investment in economic sustainability and not just a case of petty illnesses turning into expensive chronic diseases.
Public Works and Roads make up the key infrastructure backbone for development. Economic initiatives like the North West Development Fund are unable to gain traction without connectivity, which is essential for facilitating trade, attracting investment, and improving access to markets for rural communities. The DA believes that spatial inequality inherited from apartheid endures under ANC governance; only by investing in targeted infrastructure can we begin to reduce the isolation of rural parts of the province and create meaningful economic opportunities.
Social Development is the lifeline for the province’s most vulnerable. Increased and appropriately designed funding will drive families toward autonomy as opposed to just dependency, which is embedded in the DA’s holistic approach that addresses hunger, poverty and opportunity inequality.
On the other end of the spectrum, the DA urges the province to allocate fewer funds for the Office of the Premier, where funds are commonly channelled into “special projects” which would try to patch up ANC governance failures instead of addressing the underlying issues which impact the majority of residents in the province.
However, we expect the provincial budget allocation to make provision for more funds towards the Department of Community Safety and Transport Management in an effort to smooth over the Department’s failure to properly manage contracts for scholar transport and pay invoices for services rendered.
We expect to see Agriculture and Rural Development continue asking for additional capital to battle chronic issues such as Foot-and-Mouth Disease, which is symptomatic of their unpreparedness that has been ingrained since the ANC was in power.
The Department for Human Settlements will remain stuck with backlogs, no new housing projects being undertaken, historical mismanagement, misused resources, and limited future capacity to bring dignity to residents through housing.
Poor governance, systemic inequality of opportunity and the failings of elite-led redress policies have left North West entrapped in economic injustice. Unlike current practices, where elite enrichment and patronage continue, the DA continues to advocate for wide-ranging, measurable and outcome-based interventions that address the underlying determinants of inequality. The DA puts job creation and growth-orientated policy reforms at the fore, emphasising the need for targeted initiatives that directly address the economic challenges faced by the North West province. We cannot abide small incremental growth in the provincial equitable share – from R44.765 billion in 2025/26 to R46.867 billion in 2026/27 – without a systemic change in how funds are distributed and spent. The province needs a government that actually takes responsibility for translating budgets into sustainable development outcomes, not an empty shell on which to keep tossing out bad and empty platitudes.
The DA invites the North West citizens to call for a provincial budget that is grounded in specific priority areas that matter and are both economically effective and evidence-based. Investments in the four pillars of educational, health, social development, and infrastructural priorities are the only ways to lift our province out of crisis. Under DA leadership, we can overcome the past and make the future something to look forward to.