GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
26 October 2022
South Africa is overwhelmed by a socio-economic crisis that is not going to be resolved in the short to medium term.
The vast majority of the country bear the burden of living in poverty, with increasing food and employment insecurity.
This at a time when our economy is not creating enough jobs to lift South Africans out of poverty and even at a modest 3% growth rate, which we do not expect to achieve anytime soon, we will not eliminate or meaningfully reduce unemployment over the next decade.
As GOOD, we therefore welcome the one year extension of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant, of R350 per month, which has provided a small amount of relief to desperate families, even if has not lifted them out of poverty.
We however have to abandon the suggestion that this is once again a temporary measure. Any suggestion that this Grant can be cancelled in March 2024, or at any time in the next decade with poverty and unemployment unlikely to change, is quite frankly wrong.
The Grant must now be the basis upon which we implement a properly budgeted for basic income guarantee that at least meets the lower bound poverty line, which according to StatsSA, in September 2021, was R890 per person per month.
On the other hand, once these basic needs have been met, our economy must produce more jobs in the right sector.
Investment in infrastructure has been used throughout the world to kick-start economic growth. For every job on a construction site at least 7 or 8 jobs are created in the supply chain. Infrastructure, and its construction and maintenance, is a jobs multiplier.
The announcement of an increase in spending on building new and rehabilitating existing infrastructure is therefore welcomed and will assist us in creating jobs but also address the vast infrastructure disparities and deficits across the country.
Of course procurement of construction, equipment and services has been the transactions used by the corrupt and the state capturers.
The implementation of the Zondo Commission report recommendations must be fully funded – and in particular the criminal justice system needs the financial and human resources to investigate and prosecute.
In this regard, it was encouraging to hear the additional resources to the budgets of law-enforcement agencies to bolster the fight against corruption and state capture, as well as the plans to recruit the additional 15 000 constables over the next three years.
Lastly, there can be no economic growth without a stable electricity supply. The state must do everything it can to stabilise that supply in the short term.
In this regard we accept that to ensure Eskom’s long-term financial viability, government has committed to take over a significant, but as yet undisclosed, portion of the utility’s R400 billion debt.
However, additional funding to Eskom must also take a longer term view – we have several coal fired power stations that will be reaching the end of their lifespan in the next 10 -15 years.
Funding must be used to future proof our energy supply and we must be investing in renewable and green energy. That investment must include the re-skilling of the labour force to work in the green economy and we must be investing in the new skills required.
Fully committing to increasing green energy’s supply into the grid must be part of the state funding conditions.
Media Enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Janke Tolmay, GOOD Media Manager
Cell: 0733671223
Email: janke@forgood.org.za