MK Party rejects MTBPS as anti-poor and unsustainable

CAPE TOWN - The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has rejected the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement as anti-poor and unsustainable.

The main opposition party in Parliament says it does not agree with the continued austerity stance taken by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

On Thursday, the Finance Minister and National Treasury officials outlined the rationale for the mini-budget to four of Parliament’s finance committees.

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Godongwana says poor economic growth, not the National Treasury’s fiscal line contributes to high unemployment and poverty.

The country’s shortest reigning Finance Minister - the MK Party’s Des van Rooyen - says Godongwana should also have tabled a medium-term development plan to highlight the key priorities of his budget.

Moreover, van Rooyen does not agree with the drive to boost renewable energy projects as he believes it will harm the public purse.

"The risk that they pose to the fiscal stability of this country. It may not be now, but we all know they chow a lot of our contingency liability provision."

The party’s Wesley Douglas says the Finance Minister’s hardline stance of fiscal consolidation has - to date - failed to deliver equitable growth.

"MK supports a balanced approach calling for a shift from austerity to measures that look after the people’s needs first."

As the Economic Freedom Fighters did in the previous Parliament - the MK Party is calling for the nationalisation of the South African Reserve Bank and key assets to create jobs and increase the tax base.