This speech was delivered by GOOD MP Shaun August during the debate on the Special Appropriations Bill in Parliament today.
B.I.G. could be the fine line between our people living in or out of poverty.
4 June 2021
Honourable Chairperson
A South Africa that is able to vaccinate its way out of the Covid crisis, that attends to the basic needs of its most marginalised citizens, with a profitable national airline, would have significantly better prospects than the South Africa we live in today.
While the roll-out of our vaccine plan is underway, it hasn’t exactly got off to a sprint and there are no guarantees when we will all be vaccinated. In the meantime, we’re battening down the hatches ahead of the anticipated third wave.
GOOD welcomes the extension of the social relief to our most needy people, though it feels like treating a gaping wound with a very modest plaster. What is really needed is a permanent basic income grant.
When we eventually reach the other side of the pandemic, a B.I.G. could be the fine line between our people living in or out of poverty.
Chairperson…
As a country we need to start investing in predictable outcomes.
South Africa is not without medical research capacity. As we invest in this capacity we improve our independence and self-worth, and cut our reliance on others.
Take vaccinations: The short-term outcomes are massively unpredictable because of our dependence on pharmaceutical companies, our vulnerability to new Covid variants, tricky logistics, over-stretched health resources – not to mention the possibilities of a third and even fourth wave. And, of course, ever-present corruption.
We should, by now, have developed plans A, B and C, with built-in capacity to enable us to adapt as we roll.
Honourable Chair…
Extending the Covid social relief grant is sensible. So too are indications that we are slowly moving towards the implementation of a Basic Income Grant.
As for SAA… let’s just say we can’t afford another Eskom. We can’t afford to continue re-fuelling the tanks of equipment that is broken, managed by people who don’t know how to fix it. Can we really argue that we lack money to implement a Basic Income Grant, even as we throw more money at SAA?
If SAA doesn’t quickly demonstrate the agility and sensibility to return to the skies, the bail-outs must stop.
Ends…