ALAN BEESLEY: Budget 3.0 must not try to squeeze more out of SA’s stressed households

As budget 3.0 is tabled this week, South Africans are right to ask why the government is asking them to pay more while doing so little to reform itself.

The previous two versions of the budget tried to balance the books through a combination of a VAT hike and income tax bracket creep. These proposals placed the burden of corruption, incompetence and waste squarely on the shoulders of ordinary South Africans at a time when they can least afford it.

SA is facing an unemployment crisis of historic proportions. According to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey, the expanded unemployment rate has surged to 43.1% — its highest level in nearly three years. More than 8.2-million South Africans are now jobless. These are not just statistics. They represent the daily struggles of families across the country: young graduates sending out CVs in vain, breadwinners going without income and households forced to choose between food and electricity.

Despite this deepening crisis, the so-called government of national unity (GNU) remains missing in action. After nearly a year in office, not a single GNU minister has signed a performance agreement. GDP growth remains stuck below 1% and debt service costs now swallow 22c of every rand collected in tax revenue — crowding out investment in infrastructure, service delivery and jobs.

Instead of leading from the front, the GNU has been consumed by the privileges of high office. While a third of jobseekers are unemployed, R184m has already been spent on executive travel in the first few months of the seventh administration. This comes as the size of cabinet has ballooned from 66 members (including deputy ministers) in the sixth administration to 75 under the GNU, making it not only one of the largest in the world, but also one of the most expensive.

SA’s unemployment crisis is not new. Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic five years ago, the labour market has seen a net loss of 238,000 domestic worker jobs, 103,000 jobs lost in construction, 92,000 in trade and 36,000 in manufacturing — all key sectors for inclusive growth. Far from a robust recovery, the economy has added just 404,000 net new jobs in five years, barely 0.5% per year, and nowhere near enough to absorb new entrants into the labour market.

Most worrying of all is the rise in graduate unemployment, which has climbed from 8.7% to 11.7%. When university graduates — those who have done everything “right” — cannot find work, it is a clear signal of deep, systemic failure.

Meanwhile, SA households are under unprecedented pressure. Since 2016, inflation has increased cumulatively by 52%, while average take-home pay for debt counselling clients has declined by 1% in nominal terms. This amounts to a collapse of more than 53% in real disposable income. Debt has become a way of life: 69% of take-home pay now goes to debt repayments, rising to 77% for higher-income earners and 76% for the lowest earners. The average debt-to-income ratio is 113%, reaching a staggering 177% among top earners.

In short, South Africans have been forced to tighten their belts. It is time the executive did the same.

A legislative push for accountability

If cabinet ministers are unwilling to lead by example, then parliament must compel them to act. That is why ActionSA last week introduced our maiden piece of legislation: the Enhanced Cut to Cabinet Perks Bill — a bold intervention to slash the costs of one of the world’s largest cabinets and bring transparency to the secretive Ministerial Handbook.

The system now allows the president to amend the Ministerial Handbook without public knowledge or parliamentary oversight, enabling perks like unlimited luxury travel, VIP protection, home upgrades and bloated staff complements — all at taxpayers’ expense.

An earlier version of this bill was tabled in 2023 by the DA’s Leon Schreiber during the sixth parliament, but it quietly lapsed after the DA joined the GNU. ActionSA has now revived and strengthened the bill, after extensive consultation with civil society and submissions from ordinary South Africans.

The Enhanced Cut to Cabinet Perks Bill proposes five key reforms:

1. Ending the president’s power to amend the Ministerial Handbook without oversight.
2. Requiring all changes to be reviewed by the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office Bearers.
3. Mandating all amendments be tabled in the National Assembly.
4. Demanding publication of all changes on the presidency’s website within 30 days.
5. Requiring a full review of executive perks immediately, and every five years thereafter.

These reforms are not symbolic. They are necessary to restore public trust, introduce long-overdue accountability and save the fiscus hundreds of millions of rand. And they are only the beginning.

Building a leaner state that serves the people

The bill forms part of ActionSA’s broader cabinet reform package, announced in March. Our next move will be to table a constitutional amendment to abolish the position of deputy minister, which has become a redundant and costly layer of political patronage. We will also push to strengthen parliamentary oversight of all ministerial appointments, to ensure that integrity, experience and service — not cadre deployment — are the basis for high office.

Taken together, these reforms could save more than R1.5bn a year — funds that can be reinvested into job creation, infrastructure and front-line service delivery.

SA cannot afford the luxury of bloated government any longer. Budget 3.0 must not be another attempt to squeeze more out of already struggling households while executive excess remains untouched. If the GNU will not tighten its belt, ActionSA will continue to do so, as a constructive opposition committed to sound governance, fiscal responsibility and economic dignity for all South Africans.

• Beesley is an ActionSA MP.