EDITORIAL: Will government choose discipline or more debt?
The government’s determination to cut its budget according to its cloth might unravel as the extent of the consequences belatedly dawn on planners
For several years, policy experts have been warning that fiscal consolidation implies major, crippling reductions in the number of nurses, teachers and police officers, and have been raising red flags about the absence of plans to manage the resulting damage to public services.
This weekend the Western Cape government announced that it will have to cut teaching posts by 2,400 next year because of the R3.8bn hole in its medium-term budget. KwaZulu-Natal, with a R4bn budget shortfall, cannot fund more than 11,000 of its teacher posts. Gauteng will have to scale back pupil transport and will have to cancel plans to expand early childhood development coverage...
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