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Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has welcomed the tabling of the Mid-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in Parliament.
DA leader John Steenhuisen has described the MTBPS as the right direction for the country’s economic growth.
“If we have the discipline now to stick to the announcements today. We are going to see South African economy growing. More South Africans are getting into jobs and reducing the costs of leaving for our people in South Africa and I think that is all good for us.”
ActionSA Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip has welcomed the MTBPS saying it is focusing on revenue collection.
Trollip says while there is a lot to be done to rejuvenate the country’s economic growth, the tabling of the MTBPS provides some hope moving forward.
“Sub-saharan African countries, developing countries are performing much better than we are. Both this has everything to do with the ANC government who just can’t see economic growth. Then the minister spoke about revenue. I think revenue is really important. We were the party that champion more funding for SARS. SARS has shown that they can collect more not just from the man on the streets who pays tax but around the recent economy.”
Godongwana’s announcement of ramped up efforts against ghost workers in public service has been cautiously welcomed by labour union federations.
The minister announced National Treasury is working closely with the Department of Public Service Administration and Home Affairs, on a data-driven approach that integrates systems across government.
The system has so far uncovered close to 9 000 high-risk cases.
Cosatu’s Parliamentary Coordinator Matthew Parks cautioned against equating fiscal discipline with workforce reduction, calling for accountability and for the ghost posts to be filled by real job seekers.
“The fact that you could find in one provincial Department of Education, you know, a billion rand estimated is being lost to ghost posts, that for us is quite significant. The 9 000 possible ghost employees, they must still be fully verified. That could be significant savings, but more critically we think is not just to save that money, but actually to go and hire the people who it was intended to hire in the first place.” says Parks.
The ACDP says it is happy with the tabling of the MTBPS.
“So, the ACDP believes that the ship is moving in the right direction. And this is the first step in that direction although our economic growth is still low. Although our debt is still high and debt service costs are still high. There are positive green shoots of economic growth and that is necessarily for job creation and for poverty alleviation and for increased revenue,” ACDP MP Steve Swart elaborates.
Video: MTBPS 2025 | Political parties react
