Western Cape Premier Alan Winde has warned that a shortfall of R1.1bn to pay public servants could hamstring healthcare, schools and infrastructure in the province.

The Western Cape government has declared an intergovernmental dispute with the national government to secure R1.1-billion from the National Treasury for the public sector wage increase.

Premier Alan Winde and the MEC for finance and economic development, Mireille Wenger, in a joint statement on Tuesday, said the dispute was declared with the national government represented by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet in terms of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act.

The Act provides a framework for the creation of intergovernmental forums and mechanisms to facilitate the settlement of intergovernmental disputes.

"The dispute relates to the centrally negotiated and agreed to public sector wage bill, which was implemented after the Western Cape provincial parliament approved the annual budget, leading to unprecedented in-year budget cuts," they said.

"Through this action, we are trying to avoid dramatic reductions in service delivery spending in order to cater for the wage liability. We have tried to engage with national government to avoid this situation, to no avail. And for this reason, we have taken the difficult but necessary step of declaring an intergovernmental dispute."

In March, the government inked a deal to give 1.2 million public...