News24 reports that while opposition parties were generally uninspired by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's supplementary budget delivered on Wednesday, his most strident criticism came from within the tripartite alliance as Cosatu expressed its disillusionment with the budget.  

The labour federation’s Matthew Parks said they were "extremely disheartened and disillusioned by the uninspiring and timid” budget that was “not a budget fit for a country that is in deep recession with an expanded unemployment rate of 40%, with more millions of workers facing retrenchments."  Parks added Cosatu had hoped for an imaginative budget, but received one that would only entrench the current economic stagnation:  "The minister rehashed the economic relief measures announced by the president a month ago.  Despite the president repeatedly calling for a bold R1 trillion stimulus plan to grow the economy and smash unemployment, there was no such plan tabled today."  He said the silence on wasteful expenditure was shameful and added that “fat must be cut from the wages of politicians and senior managers and not among struggling workers."  The IFP welcomed the zero-based budget approach as it allowed for flexibility in the financial management in response to the crisis.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jan Gerber at News24

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