Labour federation giant Cosatu has called for greater fiscal support for state owned enterprises, saying this will help deal with the country’s triple threat of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
The labour federation was responding to last week’s Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) which was tabled by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana at Parliament.
Matthew Parks, Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator said while they appreciated the various ‘progressive allocations and interventions contained in the MTBPS, we remain underwhelmed and disappointed by Treasury’s continued approach to tackling our deep-seated economic and governance crises’.
“A projected GDP growth rate of 1.8% over the next three years will not generate the jobs we badly need,” Parks said.
Cosatu said more must be done to give support to Eskom to plug the financial holes, in particular the alarming levels of municipal debt that are owed to it.
“Similar support needs to be given to Transnet to unlock the jobs and revenue rich mining, manufacturing and agricultural sectors, as well as Metro Rail which is key to transporting 10 million urban commuters in particular to work.
“We are deeply pained that no additional interventions have been put in place for other embattled State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), in particular Denel, the Post Office and Postbank.”
Parks said that abandoning workers to unemployment and pickpocketing their pension funds is a recipe for the collapse of once thriving SOEs.
“The Department of Transport needs to expedite legislative amendments to the Road Accident Fund to ensure its funds reach the poor and its rising liabilities are tackled.”
The labour federation also raised concerns about the situation in local government saying there are ongoing concerns with the number of municipalities in financial distress, not paying workers or providing basic services, rising at alarming rates.
“The failure of the Department of Cooperative Governance to meet many of its targets is unacceptable.
“Whilst welcoming the progress in assisting struggling municipalities to pay their debts to Eskom, much more needs to be done to stabilise and rebuild local government. A discussion on a sustainable municipal funding model is urgently needed,” Parks said.
The Mercury