Cape Town - Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will face questions from MPs a day after he tabled his Budget.
Godongwana will appear on Thursday, before members of the joint committees on finance and appropriations in the two Houses of Parliament.
This comes after the ANC said this was a balanced budget that addressed the socio-economic challenges of the country.
ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said they welcomed the additional R32.6 billion that has been allocated to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to help thousands of students.
She also said the R9bn that was given to the police will strengthen the fight against crime.
“We welcome the R110 billion set aside for spending priorities, these include; the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant, which is extended for another 12 months; bursaries for students benefiting from the NSFAS and the Presidential Employment Initiative. Additional R32 billion financial support to current bursary holders and first year students under NSFAS,” Majodina said.
“We note that economic development and community development are amongst the fastest growing items in the Budget and welcome this as well as welcoming increases in the budget for education, health and the Presidential Employment Initiative.
“There is an additional R24 billion for provincial education departments to address shortfalls in the compensation of teachers and the matter of R3 billion to absorb medical interns and community service doctor’s addresses concerns that have been raised,” she said.
She said the social wage was now protecting 46% of the population.
But Cosatu said it was disappointed that the budget failed to address key challenges in the economy.
It said one of the challenges was a stagnant economy that has failed to grow.
“Overall, this was an extremely disappointing budget that repeated old promises, continued its austerity trajectory and was devoid of any new policy interventions to solve the problem of economic stagnation. There is no plan to fix the economy or create jobs, no plan to fight corruption and no plan to stop the leakages that have led to 10% of the budget being lost to corruption,” Cosatu said.
Political Bureau