A SHOCKING R48.1-billion is used to pay the salaries of 144 571 public servants in the Eastern Cape.
This constitutes 64.6% of the total 2017-18 provincial budget.
Opposition parties in the Bhisho legislature reacted with shock to this budget allocation presented by finance MEC Sakhumzi Somyo yesterday.
The UDM’s Thando Mpulu and DA leader at the legislature‚ Bobby Stevenson‚ both said it was a worry that a R48.1-billion wage bill was taking too much out of the R74-billion total budget.
This‚ they said‚ was compromising service delivery. 
