South Africans rally against austerity measures and call for public ownership

Hundreds of People Against Budget Cuts (PABC) demanded an end to "austerity" ahead of the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement, which was released from parliament on Wednesday, November 12.

One hundred thousand people have signed a petition against budget cuts, which they would like to deliver to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

When they handed the memorandum to the chief director at the National Treasury of South Africa, Marumo Maake, they said that Mr Godongwana should fetch the boxes of signatures.

They sat metres from the national legislature, which is under construction after a fire in 2022, and with the police casspirs in between. 

Representatives from the collective of progressive forces, trade unions, and community organisations called for the return of factories, filling vacancies in the public sector, and keeping the wealth in South Africa. 

Riefdah Ajam, general secretary of the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA), said that they were focused on a pro-poor budget.

"A budget focused on workers, driven by labour intensity, infrastructure development - We are saying that austerity measures that the government has been prioritising must be rejected at all costs. We need to focus on a worker-centric agenda to make sure that economic recovery can be rooted in the factories of South Africa; it can be rooted in the clinics, where we are; in the hospitals; in the police stations - to make sure that there is service delivery," she said. 

Ms Ajam said the wealth "that is the blood and sweat of the workers" had to be kept in the country - to put money back into the pockets of South Africans so that they can earn a decent living. 

In the memorandum, they expressed outrage at the National Treasury's systematic underinvestment in social needs, arguing that budget cuts were hollowing out the public sector and deepening the socioeconomic crisis.

The undersigned collective rejected the government’s ongoing privatisation programme, "structural reforms," and called for a developmental state.

"Our demands for the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement include: immediately abandoning austerity; expanding public spending; filling all vacant public sector posts; expanding indigent registers for basic services; increasing funding for education and health to hire more staff and improve infrastructure; permanently increasing social grants; and boosting funding for public transport and housing," read the memorandum.

They asserted that progressive alternatives, such as aggressive tax reform - including a wealth tax - and addressing tax evasion, were fiscally feasible to fund a people-centred budget.

"The choice is clear: crippling cuts or a progressive budget that invests in life and dignity," read the memorandum.

Dr Bradwell Jansen, from Rural Women's Assembly, advocated for its "one hectare, one woman campaign".

"We demand land for our landless women and land with water and proper water," they said. 

National education and training manager at Black Sash, Amanda Rinquest, said that South Africans should be put to work.

"There should be a basket of services - a basic income grant, basic services like water and sanitation; it is a proper public transport system; a proper education system; a proper health care system," she said.

Ms Rinquest said that the national government of unity could not shirk its responsibilities. 

"They put their hands up to govern, and that is what they must do; and they must start with our social protection rights," she said.