The Congress of South African Trade Unions notes the National Assembly’s passage of the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement’s Adjustments Appropriation Bill allocating additional funding to departments. COSATU remains deeply concerned with the Budget’s overall neo-liberal approach. Workers have borne the brunt of austerity cuts to frontline public services that the working class and economy depend upon.
Whilst we do not believe that the Adjustments Appropriation Bill goes far enough to ensure that public services are sufficiently resourced to fulfill their constitutional, developmental and transformation mandates, there is critical positive supplementary funding allocated by the African National Congress led government that COSATU welcomes, in particular:
- R2.7 billion to commence the roll out of Early Childhood Development at public schools.
- R2.06 billion to boost municipal electricity and water services in the metros.
- R698 million for the National Health Insurance Indirect Grant and revitalising health facilities as well as for building hospitals and clinics in the Western Cape, Free State and Limpopo.
- R2.1 billion additional funding for the SRD Grant.
- R2.8 billion to reinforce Home Affairs’ capacity and civic services.
- R991 for communications infrastructure investments.
- R824 million for upgrading informal settlements.
- R1.2 billion to support emerging farmers and land reform.
- R1.8 billion to boost the deployment of the South African National Defence Force and Landward Defence.
- R600 million to ease the courts’ backlogs and R556 million to boost the South African Police Service.
Whilst welcoming these progressive allocations to invest in public and municipal services and provide relief for the poor, we are deeply concerned by several glairing setbacks in the MTBPS and the Bill, in particular:
- Not adjusting the SRD Grant for inflationary erosion and setting a path to raise it to the Food Poverty Line over the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework.
- R40 million cuts to the Department of Employment and Labour’s inspectorate whilst millions of workers’ rights are routinely violated and no additional funding for the CCMA despite the flood of cases facing it.
- No additional allocations to the Departments of Electricity and Energy plus Trade, Industry and Competition to cushion distressed companies facing increasingly unaffordable electricity and the imposition of 30% tariffs on South African exports to the United States.
- R4 billion cuts in road infrastructure and maintenance, including through SANRAL.
COSATU will continue to engage government on a much bolder, more aggressive set of interventions to be included in the 2026/27 Budget to fully capacitate frontline public services, stimulate inclusive economic growth, slash unemployment, and tackle poverty, inequality, crime and corruption. Investments in public services must be viewed as a necessary investment to unlock economic growth and create decent work.
Issued by COSATU
Matthew Parks (COSATU Parliamentary Coordinator)
Mobile: 082 785 0687
Email: matthew@cosatu.org.za
