The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) delivered on Wednesday by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana shows that the ruling African National Congress (ANC) has run out of ideas to grow the economy and create jobs, ActionSA said in a statement.
According to ActionSA, Godongwana’s mini-budget indicates that “unproductive and irresponsible” spending by the ANC has ballooned.
The Party believes that South Africa does not have a funding problem but rather, it does not get enough return on the available national budget.
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“Instead of providing new and innovative ideas to tackle the cost-of-living crises faced by millions of South Africans, Minister Godongwana’s budget will inflict more pain with steep spending cuts, planned increases in taxes of R15 billion and below-inflation adjustments for frontline services such as healthcare, policing, and education.
“This while the minister failed to address the government’s key impediment to economic growth: the mismanagement of public money and the looting of public coffers,” ActionSA said.
The MTBPS laid out how it will implement fiscal consolidation measures including reduced spending, efficiency measures across government and moderate revenue increases.
Godongwana confirmed that work is underway to reconfigure the structure and size of the State “as part of government’s efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending.”
The Presidency, National Treasury, Department of Public Service and Administration and the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation have begun formulating high-level recommendations on programme and entity closures, he said, adding that, “A dedicated technical team, consisting of the appropriate legal, financial and human resource expertise has been created to facilitate implementation.”
Despite the government’s restructuring plan, ActionSA reiterated that the difficult financial situation in which the country finds itself is a product of the “harmful legacy” of Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC.
“Ramaphosa and the ruling party should, therefore, not again seek to place the burden on the South African people – as it is attempting to do – who are already overburdened by the deepening cost-of-living crisis.”
