Finance minister Tito Mboweni’s budget will this week have to colour in the details of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address two weeks ago.
Mboweni will table the 2020 budget speech in the National Assembly on Wednesday at 2pm.
The budget address comes amid serious crises at SA’s ailing state-owned enterprises (SOEs), such as power utility Eskom and SAA, which is in business rescue.
BUDGET ANALYSIS: Where will we get the money?
Among the issues that will be dealt with by Mboweni will be the announcement of a “series of measures” to reduce spending and to improve its composition. He will also have to provide details on the establishment of a sovereign wealth fund and a state bank.
Ahead of Mboweni’s budget address Cosatu, SA’s biggest trade union federation, will have its ordinary central executive committee meeting from Monday to Wednesday. The media will be briefed on the outcomes of the meeting on Thursday.
The meeting is set to deal with the deteriorating state of SA’s economy and the jobs bloodbath, says Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla.
Earlier in February Cosatu proposed that R250bn of pension money managed by the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) be used to pay down Eskom’s debt. The federation is still consulting its membership on it.
Pamla said the plan proposed by Cosatu on Eskom will be discussed at the central executive committee meeting.
Ahead of the budget address on Wednesday a campaign launched by trade union federation SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and the Assembly of the Unemployed will have events on Monday and Wednesday to protest against the government’s economic policies, which they say benefit a few while cutting spending and deepening the misery of the majority.
Parliament’s portfolio committee on health will be concluding the last leg of public hearings on the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill in Gauteng.
The Gauteng public hearings follow hearings that took place in eight provinces.
The NHI Bill is intended to achieve universal access to health care in SA.
About 25 committee meetings are scheduled for the parliamentary precinct this week. Among these, the portfolio committee on transport will on Tuesday meet transport minister Fikile Mbalula on the appointment of Bongisizwe Mpondo as administrator for the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) as well as plans to address the challenges at the entity.
Prasa was placed under administration late in 2019.
Also in Gauteng, premier David Makhura will deliver his state of the province address on Tuesday. Gauteng is a critical province for SA’s economy and contributes more than a third of SA’s GDP.
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