BL Premium reports that labour federation Cosatu has described the medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS) presented by Finance Minister Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday as “lukewarm” and said it was concerned that it had not been bold enough in addressing the economy, which has been “stagnant for over a decade”.

“We were hoping for a bold MTBPS that would protect workers from inflation, rebuild the state, decisively tackle corruption, provide relief to the unemployed and put in measures to stimulate the economy,” Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said. He indicated that suffocating the economy through budget cuts and “scapegoating public servants had not worked”. Pamla went on to stress: “The government needs to focus on addressing the fundamental causes of the fiscal crisis, namely a stagnant economy, rampant corruption, massive unemployment, load-shedding and limping state-owned enterprises, and not outsource the bill for corruption and incompetence to workers.” On the government’s unilateral implementation of its 3% wage offer to public servants, Pamla said: “We reiterate our position that an amicable solution should be found to avert the strike that will impact service delivery and undermine the economy. A public service strike will cause a major and extended labour unrest and a crisis of service delivery.” Regarding the positives, Pamla said Cosatu was pleased the government had agreed to its demand for the extension of the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant until March 2024 as it had assisted about 10-million people. He also said Cosatu supported the position that the fiscus needed to take over between R150bn and R300bn of Eskom’s debt burden.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

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