The departments of human settlements, education, health and transport lost the most as conditional grants were slashed in the medium-term budget presented on Thursday by Eastern Cape MEC for finance Mlungisi Mvoko.

Eastern Cape MEC for Finance Mlungisi Mvoko called for zero tolerance for financial mismanagement and underspending as he presented a tight medium-term budget for the province on Thursday.

Mvoko said the province's economy had shown clear signs of resilience in the face of dire conditions caused by SA's logistics and electricity crises, the impact of natural disasters and a poor global outlook.

He said if the national government solved the problems at Transnet and the electricity crisis, the Eastern Cape economy would grow faster.

The agricultural and manufacturing sectors in the province had shown growth, but unemployment was still at 38% and the fiscal outlook, Mvoko said, remained constrained.

"Spending exceeds revenue," he said, but pointed out that the province had received some funding to absorb increases for public servants that were agreed upon earlier this year. But at the same time, it had lost millions in conditional grants.

The budget comes under further pressure in the face of a series of court orders for political and department heads to report back on progress made in providing education infrastructure, service delivery and addressing hunger in the province.

Mvoko said the Eastern Cape was in a prime position to provide renewable...