Cosatu shares expectations ahead of Budget Speech
JOHANNESBURG - Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is scheduled to deliver the 2025 Budget Speech this week.
This occurs in the context of a rapidly rising cost of living and major socio-economic challenges.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions voiced its expectations from Godongwana's speech.
Cosatu Spokesperson, Matthew Parks said, "The budget can't just be about balancing the books, about making the tables and graphs look attractive for people who live far away in air conditioned offices somewhere else."
"It really has to speak to the fundamental challenges facing society, especially, the working class."
"We have a nearly 42% unemployment rate, the economy barely growing 1% per annum over the past decade."
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"We have struggling public and municipal services, starving of funds. We have embattled state-owned enterprises, we're still overcoming the crisis of load shedding, load reduction. Transnet and Metrorail remain in deep trouble. We have endemic levels of crime and corruption."
"The budget has got to be geared around those issues," Parks said to eNCA.