Today, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to deliver the budget speech after it was posponed on the 19th of February—a first in South Africa’s history. According to the Minister, this was aimed at allowing “for further deliberations to take place on the budget.” Hours before the postponement, various organisations protested outside parliament in Cape Town. Our fellows Thandiwe Tshaka, Mabhelandile ‘Bells’ Twani, Kenneth Matlawe, and Tinashe Njanji were among the protestors.
“The issue of indigent status is ravaging communities. There are SASSA beneficiaries who cannot keep up with the rebates and rates of services in communities. They are cut off from water supplies, they are cut off from refuse removal because they are not able to afford. So, one of the things that we expect to hear from the budget speech is more resources being allocated to quality delivery of public services. The issue of lack of basic services is putting communities under health risks as they are using the bucket system toilets and the issue of having only one tap within 200km serving over 2000 to 3000 people,” said Kenneth.
Thandiwe called on government to end the austerity measures.
“We suffer a lot, especially at the clinics, because of the budget cuts, sometimes there are no nurses, there are no doctors. Between 20,000 to 30,000 doctors are not working because of the budget cuts. We want those doctors to be employed, we want the nurses to be employed,” she said.
Mabhelandile shares Thandiwe’s sentiments.
“Our challenges are based on basic services such as water, electricity and jobs. We are expecting the finance minister to focus on those things and health. He must not cut jobs and social spending,” says our fellow Mabhelandile Twani.
In recent years, the government spending on public services like health and education has fallen.
Recent Comments