In Conversation with Matthew Parks, COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator
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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) presented its submission on Government’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) to Parliament’s Standing and Select Committees on Finance.
Whilst appreciating the many competing demands facing the state, we remain deeply disappointed that once again Treasury and government collectively missed the opportunity to table a bold package of interventions that would tackle the fundamental crises of a staggeringly high 43.8% unemployment rate, weak economic growth averaging 1% for over a decade, entrenched levels of poverty and inequality, high rates of crime and corruption, embattled public and municipal services.
Whilst it is important to place the budget’s debt and deficit on a sustainable trajectory, this cannot be at the expense of stimulating the very economic growth and job creation essential to South Africa’s long-term recovery. An unhealthy obsession with neo-liberal austerity budget cuts or in the case of the MTBPS, prioritising early retirement packages, is not a sustainable path to unlocking economic growth and slashing unemployment. The fact that the MTBPS forecasts only reaching the 3% economic growth needed to see unemployment fall in 2034 is beyond depressing.
Whilst appreciating the many competing demands facing the state, we remain deeply disappointed that once again Treasury and government collectively missed the opportunity to table a bold package of interventions that would tackle the fundamental crises of a staggeringly high 43.8% unemployment rate, weak economic growth averaging 1% for over a decade, entrenched levels of poverty and inequality, high rates of crime and corruption, embattled public and municipal services.
Whilst it is important to place the budget’s debt and deficit on a sustainable trajectory, this cannot be at the expense of stimulating the very economic growth and job creation essential to South Africa’s long-term recovery. An unhealthy obsession with neo-liberal austerity budget cuts or in the case of the MTBPS, prioritising early retirement packages, is not a sustainable path to unlocking economic growth and slashing unemployment. The fact that the MTBPS forecasts only reaching the 3% economic growth needed to see unemployment fall in 2034 is beyond depressing.
