Trade union Solidarity has strongly criticised the government’s efforts to find solutions to the economic crisis in which SA currently finds itself.

This was indicated following the briefing on Wednesday by the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, on the economic support package recently announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. According to Solidarity, the making available of more funds to be able to afford the R350 allowance for the unemployed was unsustainable and would in fact put more pressure on the economy and increase the burden on the whole of SA. The union said the larger than expected tax revenue was still less than what was needed to balance the ordinary budget of the state and could rather be used for that purpose. Theuns du Buisson, Economics Researcher at Solidarity, commented: “What the government is doing with its support packages is to keep people alive on debt instead of creating a better future for them. What it should rather do is enable people to thrive. This can only happen if the right climate is created where an economy can grow so that jobs can be more readily available. By immediately relaxing its labour regulations and doing away with restrictive regulations and ideologies such as the minimum wage and black economic empowerment, this will be possible.” According to Du Buisson the tax deferral that has been announced was a welcome lifeline for struggling businesses. However, he contended that the temporary relief might be too little to solve the problem.

• Read Solidarity’s press statement on this matter at Solidarity News

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