Capital expenditure by public sector institutions increased by 4.8% from R202.8 billion in 2012 to R212.5 billion in 2013, StatsSA reported. However, capital expenditure on new construction works is down.

There has been an increased spend 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 (down by R3 billion), leased assets and investment property (‑R0,7 billion) and on land and existing buildings (‑R0,1 billion).

StatsSA’s 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.

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.