Budget receives mixed reviews
Business and agriculture unconvinced that funding for all plans will be found
WESTERN Cape businesses and agriculture are sceptical about the Budget, expressing concern about where the money to fund all the plans will come from while simultaneously praising it for no new tax hikes as farmers and those in tourism felt forsaken.
Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Janine Myburgh said: “The Budget was as expected. No shocks and no evidence of backbone in tackling the SOE and other elephants in the room.
“Those in the private sector wryly noticed that the reason for no new taxes was the tax contribution of the mining sector, ironically an industry that some departments of state seem to have been intent on closing. Some mining houses have already taken the hint and left. Those who stayed came to our rescue.
“Good to know that Covid-19 vaccines will be available to all and that the private sector will pay for quite a bit of them through medical aid societies. However, whichever way you look at our national finances, we are still deeply mired in debt that is rising faster that the economy can pay it back.”
Commercial farmers in the province have said they felt abandoned by the government.
Chief executive of Agri Western Cape Jannie Strydom said: “It is clear from the finance minister’s Budget speech that commercial agriculture can’t rely on much government support. On the contrary, the burden on commercial producers has been increased with, among others, the announcement of an 8% increase in excise duty on alcohol and tobacco, a 27 cents per litre increase in the fuel levy and no drought assistance to the sector.”
Black Business Chamber (BBC) secretary-general Kaya Cishe said: “We have taken note of the interventions by the minister to allocate R4 billion to SMMEs as a loan guarantee scheme. However, we as BBC have no confidence that such monies will finally reach SMMEs.
“As the minister was delivering his Budget speech there was about R1.8bn which is a significant portion of the R2bn that is still sitting in the banks. We can only hope that this is not just an administrative exercise while SMMEs are closing as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Cape Town Tourism chief executive Enver Duminy said: “The tourism industry has been decimated by the effects of Covid-19 and the lockdown regulations that have been put in place as a result of the pandemic.”
Tim Cordon, senior area vice-president for the Radisson Hotel Group, said: “We had hoped that the tourism industry as a whole would have received more attention in the Budget speech, especially given that this is a sector that contributed 8.7% to the country’s GDP pre-Covid-19.”
South African Informal Traders Alliance National president, Rosheda Muller said: “As always the devil is in delivery, and therefore we’d like to be able to monitor implementation of this Budget closely to ensure it reaches its intended recipients. As we always say, nothing about us without us.”
SweepSouth chief executive Aisha Pandor said: “The increase in the fuel levy may seem like an easy target, but it will profoundly impact our poorest workers, many of whom have to travel long distances to work and likely be subject to heavy increases in public transport costs as a result.”
Garth Rossiter, chief risk officer at SME service provider firm Lulalend, said: “The R4bn allocated in the medium term to township and rural enterprises is good news. I would like to see how it will be allocated, but anything that grows businesses in these areas must be seen as a fantastic initiative.”