SA needs action, not words, Tito
BUDGET: ‘STRIP AWAY HIS WORDS AND SEE REALITY’
Soft for 2019 elections with little commitment to immediate solutions.
Lower growth, lower revenue, the economic outlook revised downwards, damaged government institutions, governance problems, high unemployment, rampant corruption and wasteful expenditure – these are some issues new Finance Minister Tito Mboweni tried to address in his medium-term budget policy statement yesterday.
Political analyst Ralph Mathekga said the budget was moderate, and that Mboweni was avoiding confronting issues – especially that of the public service wage agreement, which exceeded budgeted baselines by about R30.2 billion. “I don’t see any commitment to do something specific about the wage bill in the short term, only that it would have to be dealt with in the medium term,” Mathekga said.
“There seems to be an idea in the speech that says you will see structures fail over the medium term. This could mean five years. It does not commit to anything.”
Mathekga said it was a “very soft budget”. “It’s an election budget. I don’t think risks are being taken. I think we need major changes, we need structural reform.”
Mathekga wasn’t alone in his analysis.
“Strip away Mboweni’s credible delivery and admirable intentions and you are left with the harsh statistics of a 4% budget deficit, reduced gross domestic product (GDP) projections, 59% debt-to-GDP, poor revenue collections and excessive public-sector wage settlements,” political analyst Daniel Silke said on Twitter yesterday. “That’s the reality.”
Silke said the budget delivered in sentiment, but remained constrained by the political realities of a looming election, ANC divisions, ideological confusion and governance and institutional decay. “Still, hints of policy shifts will depend on internal ANC politics in 2019.
“Mboweni said SA faces ‘tough choices’ and there are ‘no holy cows’. If he is referring to the grip moribund and unworkable ideology has on policy-making, then he is taking the battle to inside the ANC in a desperate attempt to kick-start growth,” Silke said.