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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) presented its submission on the Special Appropriation and Adjustments Appropriation Bills to Parliament’s Standing and Select Committees: Appropriations today.

The two Appropriation Bills came in the context of the state, workers and society at large having to juggle numerous simultaneous crises.  These range from a stagnant economy desperate for stimulus, a rising unemployment rate of 44%, deteriorating public services, struggling State Owned Enterprises and municipalities, and rising levels of poverty, crime and corruption.  Whilst there are positive allocations in the Appropriation Bills that COSATU welcomes and which will provide some relief for workers and the economy, there is not enough to grow the economy and reduce unemployment, rebuild the state and SOEs, and tackle crime and corruption.

Special Appropriation Bill

COSATU welcomes the allocations to settle the E Tolls saga.  What is needed now is a progressive funding model for road infrastructure that does not suffocate workers or burden the economy.

The allocation of R2.9 billion to repair damaged railway infrastructure and locomotives at Transnet is a positive boost for the economy.  It needs to be accompanied by the necessary security measures to ensure such investments are not lost to cable theft and vandalism.

The R3.4 billion relief for DENEL is welcomed.  It is critical that these funds include repaying DENEL employees all monies owed to them over the past 2 years and a comprehensive turn around plan that will ensure DENEL’s revival and its jobs being saved.

COSATU is however disappointed that no additional support was provided for the Post Office which has now embarked on its planned retrenchments of 6 000 workers.  This will be devastating to these workers and further cripple the Post Office.  We hope that the 2023/24 Budget to be tabled at Parliament will include a debt relief package for Eskom that will release up to 2 thirds of its debt burden from its books so that it can focus its resources on ramping up its maintenance programme and in investing in new generation capacity to end the loadshedding crippling the economy.

Adjustments Appropriation Bill

COSATU welcomes the additional appropriations allocated for:

• Disaster relief for damages to infrastructure and homes during the March 2022 floods in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
• Preparing to rebuild Parliament after its devastating fire.
• Home Affairs’ digitisation programmes to reduce backlogs.
• Stats SA’s 2022 Census.  It needs to be held accountable to avoid a repeat of the delays Census workers experienced in receiving monies owed to them.
• Industrial financing to boost manufacturing sectors.
• Additional electricity grid connections.

Upgrading the Department of Employment and Labour’s IT and systems capacities.  It is hoped that these will lay the foundation for modernising the Unemployment Insurance and Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases’ Funds to ensure that workers receive their monies timeously.

Additional funds to address the school infrastructure backlogs.

Funding for the deployment of the SANDF to support disaster relief measures in KwaZulu-Natal and peace enforcement operations in Mozambique.

Whilst welcoming these additional allocations, COSATU is deeply dismayed that:

The budget for land reform was slashed by R1.3 Billion, utter madness when millions of informal and rural residents, farm workers and labour tenants are desperate for land to build homes and SMMEs.

No additional funds are allocated for the CCMA which is buckling with a reduced a budget whilst having to managed a massive rise in workers seeking its protection from retrenchments and wage cuts.

Cuts in export incentives whilst we need to boost such initiatives.

Despite an increase in funds for SAPS visible policing, overall funding for SAPS has been slashed which is already being weakened by a decline in its headcount from over 200 000 to 172 000 over the past decade, deteriorating SAPS resources and infrastructure and rising crime and corruption levels.

SASSA and the Department of Social Development and Treasury have through the administrative chaos at SASSA and overtly stringent qualification measures, allowed the number of unemployed persons receiving the SRD Grant to plummet by 25% leaving over R5.6 billion unspent on the SRD Grant as well as R284 million for Child Support Grants unspent.  This cannot be allowed to continue whilst unemployment and poverty levels continue to rise.

No additional funds were allocated to expand the intake of the Presidential Employment Stimulus which has helped over half a million unemployed young people earn a salary and gain badly needed experience and skills and helped support public services.  Government needs to expand the intake to accommodate at least 2 million young people in the 2023/24 Budget.  This is critical to reducing unemployment, in particular for young people.  

It is equally concerning that many key departments are far behind in meeting their Annual Performance Plan targets weeks away from the end of the year.  Many will fail to meet these targets as we approach the end of the financial year.  The President and Parliament need to hold accountable the sleepy Ministers and indifferent Directors-General who are oblivious to their performance targets and to rebuilding a developmental state capable of delivering quality public services, stimulating the economy and reducing unemployment and poverty.

Whilst COSATU remains concerned with many aspects of the Appropriation Bills, we hope that government will table a bold progressive budget at Parliament in February that will lay a clear foundation to rebuilding the state, protecting workers, tackling corruption, growing the economy, slashing unemployment and poverty, ending loadshedding and cable theft, and repivoting our SOEs.

Issued by COSATU