CAPE ARGUS The DAs Mmusi Maimane suggested that the national grid be taken away from Eskom. Photo: David RitchieJohannesburg - Slashing the cabinet by half by removing all deputy ministers, addressing the multiple crises at the country’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and breaking the Eskom monopoly.
These are some of the DA’s proposals in its alternative budget which it presented before Wednesday’s Budget speech, to be delivered by Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene.
DA finance spokesman Dion George, its parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane and MP David Ross offered alternatives on Tuesday.
George said one of the party’s interventions would be cutting the cost of corruption and maladministration in order to save R10 billion.
“Reducing the public sector wage bill by R4.3bn through key interventions such as avoiding above inflation rate salary increases, cutting back on salaries to superfluous departments and linking salaries to performance,” George added.
He said they would also save R11.1bn by disbanding the National Youth Development Agency and the Setas.
“We would slash the size of President Jacob Zuma’s R1bn cabinet by R355 million by doing away with deputy ministers.
“An additional R100m would be spent on improving education by implementing performance incentives for school managers and teachers based on learner outcomes,”
he said.
Ross said the DA’s alternative budget would place greater emphasis on addressing the “multiple crises” at SOEs, which would put South Africa on a sustainable fiscal footing.
“Our fragile economy cannot afford to bail out another SOE. Drastic reforms are needed to address the ailments at Eskom and SAA. With regard to Eskom, there’s a short-term and a long-term crisis in terms of funding Eskom, but there’s also a crisis in terms of generation,” Ross said.
He said it was unsustainable for 95 percent of our electricity to come from Eskom, a state-owned entity “characterised by mismanagement”.
“Our economy cannot grow without a stable power supply. It is estimated that 10 percent of potential economic growth, totalling R300bn, has been lost since 2008 due to electricity supply constraints,” Ross said.
Maimane suggested taking the electricity grid away from Eskom and for independent power producers to compete with the power utility. The DA was not necessarily opposed to investing in nuclear energy, “but first finish the power stations under construction”.
The Star