Africa-Press – South-Africa. Political parties have criticised finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s budget, calling it a missed opportunity to set the country on economic recovery at the expense of the upcoming elections.
Godongwana delivered the budget review on Wednesday.
The official opposition party said the minister failed to address the economic crisis, adding that his delivery was indicative of a “panicking ANC”.
DA MP Dion George said the ruling party has no plan to accelerate economic growth, resolve relentless blackouts, stabilise debt, rein in runaway expenditure, support vulnerable South Africans and combat corruption.
“This budget is a confirmation that the ANC only cares for its own survival and not about the plight of battling South African households who are unable to put enough food on their tables. There was no mention of the so-called food security plan of action, announced last year, to protect consumers from the burden of skyrocketing food prices.
“The minister could very easily have expanded the zero-VAT rated basket of food to bring immediate relief to South African households. He could also have reduced the taxes and levies on fuel which would have provided further relief.”
The DA noted the minister’s announcement of the government’s support for private-public partnerships to rebuild South Africa’s crumbling infrastructure — but it argued there is a notable absence of a coherent plan to fast-track this initiative.
The party welcomed that there appears to be no further direct bailouts to SOEs and no additional funds allocated to the “doomed NHI”.
They have harshly criticised the growth forecast, down to 0.6%, saying it will significantly impact revenue collection and the funds available for service delivery, with revenue R56bn lower than expected this time last year.
“Load-shedding and the crisis in our logistics sector has also impacted revenue generation significantly. Revenue generated from the mining sector decreased by 39.2%, while revenue generated from the manufacturing sector decreased by nearly 6%.
“The lower-than-expected growth and revenue shortfall has prompted government to launch its raid on the South African Reserve Bank.”
Though government claims to be making progress on resolving relentless blackouts, the DA said the return of high level load-shedding ensures that the lights remain off, with government’s commitment to unbundling Eskom not moving fast enough, while the entity continues to generate enormous losses.
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