Cosatu wants budget to reduce and end power cuts

Cosatu wants finance minister Enoch Godongwana to offer a package that will include measures to reduce and end load shedding.

Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the union federation hoped government would rise to the occasion and table a decisive and bold budget that would spur a struggling economy to reduce a dangerously high unemployment rate of 43%.

"It should offer meaningful relief to the poor and unemployed and include a package of measures to reduce and end load shedding. We expect a detailed plan on how to secure our railway network and rebuild embattled state-owned enterprises and dysfunctional municipalities. The budget needs to speak on the plan to accelerate the fight against crime and corruption," he said.

Godongwana will table the budget on Wednesday in parliament. Many are looking to him to increase social relief packages and to stipulate how much government will spend on ending power cuts and rolling blackouts, pending the appointment of the minister of electricity.

Pamla said in so far as government had managed to somewhat maintain spending, this was largely due to improvements in revenue collection.

"Over and above the inadequate resource allocation on the social services side, deficit reduction has severely squeezed spending on infrastructure and economic services. Reduced spending in these crucial categories has severely constrained our capacity to restructure the economy and increase our production capacity," he said.

Pamla added the budget needed to include urgent and bold measures to secure and rebuild the passenger and freight rail network which were being decimated by rampant criminality, in particular cable theft and arson.

"A functioning rail network is key to maintaining and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the mining, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors, and to transporting millions of workers and commuters in our urban centres," he said.

Meanwhile, earlier on Monday, DA MP Dr Dion George presented an alternative budget speech where he outlined several budget priorities which he said would grow SA's economy:

Establishing a base to accelerate economic growth by reforming state-owned enterprises for private investment and relieving the economy of anti-poor policies;

Reversing the upward debt spiral by containing debt and managing expenditure;

Fighting the high cost of living to protect vulnerable South Africans by introducing a conditional basic income grant;

Increasing support for small, medium, and micro enterprises by introducing tax relief measures; and

Fighting corruption by bolstering the capabilities of institutions that combat sophisticated crime.

"Our economy is in serious trouble; a direct result of government's failed economic policies. In particular, its failed model for black economic empowerment; its attempt to place a dysfunctional state at the centre of our economy and its disastrous cadre deployment policy.

"The most vulnerable South Africans are paying the price for this failure as the cost of living spirals upwards and drives more and more households into poverty," he said.

ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said she expected a "pro-poor" budget that would seek to re-energise the economy by placing it on a path of sustainable and inclusive growth while being responsive to electricity availability challenges as well as persistent poverty and inequality lines.