POPCRU urges workers to reject early retirement amid austerity push

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana introduced the proposal in his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. It aims to cut government spending on salaries and attract younger talent to the civil service.

Speaking at a central executive committee meeting in Boksburg on Tuesday, Ngwenya argued that these measures would only serve to weaken unions. 

"Since the fourth administration, National Treasury has been aggressively cutting the public service wage bill and essential services that the poor rely on while funnelling resources into poorly managed state-owned enterprises without holding executives and boards accountable,” he said.

Ngwenya warned that Treasury’s recent proposal to cut R80.6 billion from non-interest government expenditure would likely lead to further reductions in social programmes that support working-class and rural communities. 

 “More than 63% of households struggle to access adequate food, and over one in four children under five suffer from stunted growth due to malnutrition,” he said.

He added that budget cuts have severely impacted essential services, with sectors like health, education, and policing suffering, while Home Affairs has a 60% vacancy rate.

Ngwenya also criticised National Treasury’s focus on fiscal consolidation policies, claiming these have led to stagnant economic growth and failed to stimulate any meaningful progress under both the sixth and seventh administrations. 

“National Treasury has consistently used the public service wage bill as a scapegoat for South Africa’s economic troubles, painting it as bloated and unsustainable,” he said. 

He added that this narrative is endorsed by government partners, with the Democratic Alliance “actively advocating for defunding public services and freezing crucial vacancies”. 

Ngwenya argued that the current administration's cabinet is bloated and costs the fiscus an estimated R670 million annually—almost double the size of the initial post-apartheid administration's cabinet.

Calling on Treasury to refrain from making unilateral announcements on wages or retirement arrangements, Ngwenya emphasised that these matters should be addressed in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council. 

Despite Treasury’s rhetoric, he said, the public service wage bill has declined as a portion of the budget, from 35.7% to an estimated 31.4%. 

“This raises the question: why continue with austerity measures if the mission of reducing the wage bill has already been achieved?” he asked.

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