The People’s Budget coalition on Wednesday praised Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel’s 2006 Budget, saying it promises real benefits for the poor.
The coalition comprises the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the South African Council of Churches (SACC) and the South African Non-Governmental Organisation Coalition (Sangoco).
The SACC’s Eddie Makue said the coalition welcomes the 13% growth in spending on basic services for the people.
However, Makue questioned how the money will be shared between municipalities, which are largely responsible for delivering basic infrastructure.
”The current local government grant does not adequately compensate for massive differences in access to income from rates and services. As a result, even with higher spending, poor communities do not get the resources they need in order to work their way out of poverty,” Makue said.
Sangoco’s Hassan Lorgat slammed business, saying it failed to come to the party.
”Private hospitals are still more resourced. Meanwhile, people are dying every day of HIV/Aids in public facilities.”
Lorgat said even though the Budget sounds good, it has to be translated to make a real impact in the lives of the poor.
The coalition said it appreciates efforts to increase spending on services that, according to the coalition, have experienced very slow growth in the past 10 years.
”Government support for economic activities that can create jobs remains critical,” it said. ”Economic departments still do not adequately prioritise equity and decent work. Instead, they focus on high tech endeavours that cannot build a more inclusive economy.”
The group also welcomed the 1,5% increase in social grants. It said that, as a minimum, it would like to see an extension of the child-support grant up to the age of 18.
”We have noted Manuel’s admission that many people earn wages that are even lower than the state old-age pension. This shows that many employers are still paying workers starvation wages.”
Efforts for tax relief were also slammed by the coalition.
”Half of all workers earn even too little to pay income tax. So they do not benefit at all from the cuts.”
A major concern, it said, is the proposal to increase state investment by privatising the ”so-called non-core assets”.
”As the situation at Transnet demonstrates, this type of privatisation can both undermine services to the poor and [bring] job losses.” — Sapa