By Abigail Moyo
Frustrated South Africans, numb in the face of the mounting pressures of load-shedding, water outages, unemployment, escalating food and fuel costs, and a general lack of service delivery, are grimly waiting to see whether Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will come up with interventions to counter these daily challenges.
Can he produce an appropriate and sustainable budget that will be economically liberating? Or will it be the usual callouts, panels, commissions, and new roles for old friends?
Earlier this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address made it painfully clear that no proper action plan had been carved out.
Ahead of the tabling of the National Budget tomorrow, UASA calls on Godongwana to present a sustainable budget speech that will lift South Africans out of this national depression and will give them solid reasons to hope for something better to come.
UASA demands:
- Effective, sustainable financial intervention to the energy crisis and a move to the Just Energy Transition. An average of six hours of load-shedding daily is unsustainable for economic operations and livelihoods. Taxpayers’ money continues to be pumped into Eskom with no tangible solutions.
- Feasible financial plans to combat the high unemployment rate in the country. The temporary jobs mentioned by Pres. Ramaphosa, during his SONA, is mere wind. Financial assistance and structural planning are needed to erase unemployment.
- Investment in the scarce skills, education, and technology sectors to ensure a Just Transition and the 4th Industrial Revolution.
- Action plans to revive municipalities affected by the recent floods and natural disasters to rebuild and maintain infrastructures.
- SOE intervention. It’s about time for SOEs to generate revenue without bailouts.
- Investment in infrastructure and qualified and experienced engineers to combat the water challenges in the country to ensure water surety. As a water-scarce country, we must work on reliable waterworks and utilise all our resources.
- Plans for the social relief grants. South Africans cannot depend on handouts forever.
- A financial plan to upgrade and train a firm security cluster to combat high crime levels in South Africa. According to Stats SA, on the crime stats report for Q3 2022, contact crimes increased by 11.6% from Q3 2021 to Q3 2022. We demand an action plan to tackle Gender-Based Violence and Femicide rates.
The economic and social inequality that most South Africans have been reduced to is humiliating after so much trust and faith in our leaders to be transparent, lawful, and accountable was demonstrated.
Godongwana, be the solution that your people need.
Abigail Moyo is the spokesperson of the trade union UASA.
BUSINESS REPORT