GNU partners preach growth and jobs after avoiding another budget bust-up

The country needs to maintain the momentum of economic growth, said Zuko Godlimpi in Parliament on Wednesday, 12 November, after the tabling of the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). 

Godlimpi, acting ANC spokesperson and the country’s deputy minister for trade, industry and competition, told Daily Maverick after the parliamentary session: “We have to maintain the momentum on economic growth. I think [that’s] the one thing that we have to focus on.”

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s MTBPS focused on reforms in sectors such as rail and electricity, as well as expected economic growth of 1.8% a year over the next three years. (Read Godongwana’s full speech here.)

Godlimpi said after the parliamentary session that the Government of National Unity (GNU) “is starting to appreciate [that] we need higher levels of economic growth.

“We need to move beyond the 0.8% to about 1.5% in the next year. That will help us to improve employment numbers [and] that will help us to increase tax collection, and that will then assist us to alleviate the pressure on public finances,” said Godlimpi.

“The main story I will give you, growth, growth, growth… and that growth must [add to] employment.”

Read more: Deputy Trade and Industry Minister Zuko Godlimpi (32) ‘doesn’t think much about this age thing’

GNU moves beyond deadlock

Democratic Alliance finance spokesperson Mark Burke told Daily Maverick there were some encouraging signs, but concerns remained.

“The economic growth is not nearly what it should be,” he said, noting the need to scrap programmes that weren’t working or were wasteful. 

Burke said he was “hopeful” that by February, when the annual Budget was tabled, “we don’t have as big a bust-up”. He was referring to the dramatic 2025 Budget period, which saw the country’s two biggest parties (and the biggest parties in the Government of National Unity) at loggerheads – even via the courts – over a proposed VAT hike. 

“A lot of what happened in February was because we were trying to send an advance signal to the ANC that a VAT increase wasn’t viable, and unfortunately, they weren’t willing to listen to us,” said Burke.

“It is my sense, and if you listen to what was announced today and some of the things I’ve now shared, such as inflation targets, debt stabilisation and a culture of spending reviews, that we are being listened to.

“That being the case, I’m hopeful we can avoid drama in February.” However, he emphasised that this didn’t preclude future agreements on how the country should be run, nor did it mean the DA would avoid conflict at every point where it arose.

Read more: GNU lease of life? Ramaphosa might just have finally taken charge of SA’s governing coalition

The Inkatha Freedom Party, another GNU member, welcomed some aspects of the MTBPS, which included fiscal prudence, inclusive growth and pro-poor spending.

Party parliamentary chief whip Nhlanhla Hadebe said: “We are encouraged by the progress in local government reform, notably through the Utility Reform Programme, which seeks to stabilise and professionalise water and electricity services in pilot municipalities. This is an important step toward restoring efficiency and accountability in local governance.” 

Freedom Front Plus chief whip Heloïse Denner said: “Ultimately, everything should be seen as creating a foundation for economic growth. In this regard, savings and policy are crucial – but so is service delivery at the local level. There will be no investment, nor progress, without reliable water supply and other services.”

Not everyone was happy. Des van Rooyen, uMkhonto Wesizwe party chief spokesperson on finance, told Daily Maverick: “Look, we are not going anywhere unfortunately, because this budget is not… this policy statement is not credible.”

The country’s one-time finance minister added, “So, unfortunately, this budget, this policy statement, it doesn’t deserve our support.”

Anti-austerity protest

Earlier on Wednesday, several groups held a gathering against any kind of budget cuts within the social sector and called for increased funding for the working class. Speaker after speaker at the People Against Budget Cuts rally relayed a common theme: budget cuts and/or austerity measures were crippling working-class communities across the country. 

This year’s annual Budget included cuts to health and education spending, which provinces have had to absorb by freezing the hiring of new posts and implementing various austerity measures.

Read more: Treasury’s Budget revisions may leave health and education under strain — civil society

Motlatsi Tsubane from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said: “Government, you have killed the public sector. Government, you have killed the public sector department. You have killed the morale of workers in those departments.

He told the crowd, “You can go to the Department of Health; you want to see how down the morale of those workers is in that department. You will see the disservice that has been given to the public out there by those workers, and you can’t blame them. You can't blame them because that department is understaffed.”

Amanda Rinquest from humanitarian activist organisation Black Sash said there should be an end to austerity in the country. 

“Ending austerity means we mustn’t put the private sector to work. We must put us to work,” she said.

“We are saying, when government doesn’t do its part, it’s us who suffer. It’s us who suffer when the public transport system is collapsing, when basic services are collapsing.”

This Government of National Unity cannot be a government that gives its responsibilities away. They put their hands up to govern, and that is what they must do, and they must start with our social protection.”

A social protection floor, she said, was a basket of goods and services that included a basic income grant, basic services such as water and sanitation, and a functioning public transport system. This also included a proper education system and a proper healthcare system.

Zolani Mbanjwa, the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) Western Cape coordinator, said: “Comrades, this MTBPS must become a turning point, not another obituary for the working class. Saftu is ready to march, ready to mobilise, ready to fight because the crisis is real, and so is our power.” DM