Unions unhappy with Godongwana’s budget speech
The South African Federation of Trade Unions and the Congress of South African Trade Unions have expressed their disappointment at the budget speech.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tabled the budget in the National Assembly in Cape Town on Wednesday.
The National Treasury has been forced to dip into the country's contingency reserves to help pay mounting government debts.
SAFTU's Zwelinzima Vavi said the speech did not highlight any concrete plan to address unemployment.
“The minister only speaks about unemployment in so far as he refers to his presidential projects. The presidential project is not a real solution to the issue of unemployment. So, we are very disappointed."
Earlier this week, Stats SA reported that the country’s unemployment rate has reached 32.1% from October to December 2023, up 0.2 of a percentage point on the previous quarter.
COSATU's Matthew Parks said there should have been more aggressive proposals to tackle load shedding and crime.
“This is their business-as-usual budget with more focus in reducing the debt but not focused enough in growing the economy. We do welcome the increase in the police headcount, but we had hope to see increases in National Prosecuting Authority as well as the courts because we need to get a grip on reducing crime and corruption."
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