Freeze wages and cut Cabinet —DA
The DA wants a one-year wage freeze of public servants’ salaries and a reduction of the Cabinet as ways of cutting government expenditure.
A one-year freeze on the wages and performance bonuses of public servants would save R62bn while reducing the size of the Cabinet to 15 ministries would save about R13.8bn over the next three years.
The compensation of public servants is projected to be R587bn in 2018-19.
The DA has also proposed a 6% trim on all mandatory cost containment items at national and provincial government, which would save R5.3bn.
DA leader Mmusi Maimane and MP Alf Lees outlined the party’s budget proposals at a media briefing on Tuesday ahead of Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba’s tabling of the national budget on Wednesday.
Maimane said the “new dawn” heralded by President Cyril Ramaphosa required a new direction in the economy and a change in policy to ensure rapid economic growth.
He said the DA would be looking to the budget for initiatives to grow the economy, cuts to government expenditure to fund service delivery and the protection of the poor.
Maimane said any tax increases, in particular the mooted increase in value-added tax (VAT), would be rejected.
He said the DA wanted the budget to focus on an infrastructure build programme as a way to stimulate economic growth. It should also outline plans to offer jobs and training to the youth.
“These are fundamental if we are going to create a macroeconomic climate that produces growth, introduces labour absorption but also builds infrastructure so that the economy over a long period of time is sustainable,” Maimane said.
He highlighted three major constraints to fiscal manoeuvrability, namely the public sector wage bill, debt servicing costs and high expenditure on social welfare. These constraints, he said, would limit what Gigaba could do in the budget.
The DA was firm in its rejection of any expenditure on a nuclear programme and on the national health insurance in its current proposed form.
Lees said SA needed a “policy shock” to boost economic growth and create jobs. He said Gigaba should announce a package of structural reforms designed to boost confidence.
This package should include withdrawing the current Mining Charter and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Amendment Bill, exempting small businesses employing fewer than 250 employees from complying with restrictive labour legislation, and privatising state-owned enterprises such as South African Airways and Eskom.