Budget Speech: Labour unions warn Godongwana to avoid tabling austerity measures
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will on Wednesday deliver what’s been described as the toughest budget yet, as government continues to spend more than it’s able to collect in revenue.
FILE: Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. Picture: @TreasuryRSA/Twitter
JOHANNESBURG - Some labour unions have warned Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to avoid tabling austerity measures when he delivers the Budget Speech on Wednesday.
Godongwana will deliver what’s been described as the toughest budget yet, as government continues to spend more than it’s able to collect in revenue.
There are now renewed concerns that Treasury will make aggressive budget cuts to social spending in order to recoup some lost money.
READ: Analysts have mixed forecasts on what taxpayers can expect from Godongwana
The Federation of Union South Africa (FEDUSA) said it’s worried about the impact this would have on service delivery.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) agreed.
SAFTU spokesperson Trevor Shaku said he doesn’t believe the upcoming national elections will sway Godongwana’s hand.
"Of course, we would’ve expected that this to ought change, especially because there’s a possibility that they [the ANC] may go below 50% and that one of the contributing factors to the sentiments of our people is the non-delivery or poor service delivery among which the contributing factor is austerity in addition to corruption and other such things.
"So in the normal state of things they were supposed to be changing the trajectory in the fiscal framework and following fiscal expansion and not a fiscal constriction."