The Budget Justice Coalition has expressed shock at the austerity measures proposed by the National Treasury aimed at limiting excessive government spending.
Treasury cited unprecedented challenges and deteriorating public finances.
The measures will include a freeze on advertising new appointments, a big reduction in spending, and a call on departments to fund increases for public servants within departmental baselines.
Motlatsi Komote, Chairperson of the Budget Justice Coalition, says the measures undermine the country’s democratic processes.
“We were quite shocked as a coalition when we saw the statement instructing government departments to take on these austerity measures. We believe that it will impede government’s ability to increase much needed capacity in key areas, and we think that it will also furthermore impact health, education, social development and ECD. We’re quite concerned about what this means, and we think that it’s really a unprecedented directive that really undermines our democratic processes.”
