Cape Town - A collective movement of civil society organisations, social movements, trade unions and concerned individuals have started a petition calling on Parliament to reject the proposed 2021 Budget by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni last month.
In an open letter endorsed by more than 200 organisations, the movement said the approval of the budget will result in the widespread violation of many of the rights enshrined in the Constitution.
They said the cuts to funding for education, health services, social grants and other critical areas of service delivery was “indefensible” in light of the extreme levels of inequality, poverty and unemployment.
They called on members of parliament to send the budget back to the National Treasury and require it to meet its socio-economic rights obligations and consider alternative ways of managing our public debt.
SECTION27 budget analyst Daniel McLaren said people’s enjoyment of basic human rights were going to be restricted by the funding cuts proposed. He said the rejection of the budget was necessary to protect the quality of and access to public services which the majority of people relied on.
“Many of the organisations, social movements and unions involved in the petition have been making submissions to Parliament in recent years which show how budget cuts are impacting access to healthcare services, education, social care, criminal justice and other critical areas of service delivery.
“Despite this, Parliament has continued to pass the budget. The 2021 budget makes the biggest cuts to government spending in at least two decades, totalling R265 billion. These cuts will do harm to the government's capacity from which it will take years to recover,” he said.
Equal Education researcher Rone McFarlane said total education funding will decrease every year for the next three years (when inflation is taken into account) adding that this will hurt the progress that has been made in education.
“The 2021 budget represents a continuation of concerning trends of underspending on basic education. Research shows that government spending per learner on basic education decreased by an average of 2.3% between 2009 and 2018.
“The February 2020 budget deepened this trend by cutting the total basic education budget in real terms – possibly the first time this has happened in the democratic era – a trend that is now continuing in the current budget. Since 2016/17, funding for education as a percentage of the total budget has decreased from almost 19% to around 15%,” she said.
McFarlane said the R9 billion Basic Education budget cuts, among others, will affect teacher salaries, infrastructure, school nutrition which she said will likely negatively affect learning outcomes.
McLaren said Parliament must require the National Treasury to come up with alternative ways of managing public debt which ensure that public services are not affected.
Cape Argus