It’s time to get the constitution involved
SA should prescribe rigid measures to rein in a fiscally imprudent government
Finance minister Tito Mboweni has, in his past few budget speeches, consistently made reference to SA’s fiscal woes. Yet suggestions from the National Treasury on how to adequately deal with these woes have not been forthcoming. Specifically, it seems to pay little attention to the practice of enshrining fiscal rules in the country’s constitution.
Sections 213 to 230 of the SA constitution deal with the financial side of government. Yet these have a notable lack of rigid measures that can be utilised to rein in a fiscally imprudent government. Section 215, for instance, mandates that budgets across all three spheres of government — national, provincial and local — must “promote transparency, accountability and the effective financial management of the economy, debt and the public sector”. Yet it fails to set out explicit rules that would ensure such efficacious financial management...
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