Yesterday’s Budget is another slap in the face of the poor, the working class, and the unemployed. Minister Enoch Godongwana and the so-called Government of National Unity have once again delivered a budget for the bosses, the banks and the billionaires—not for us! Budget 3.0 is a betrayal of the people and a continuation of the failed austerity that has ripped apart our communities, collapsed our public services, and stolen the future of an entire generation.
They call it a “recovery” budget—but recovery for who? For the elites! For the private sector! For the looters in suits who get fat off the suffering of the majority. While millions go hungry, children die from malnutrition, and young people sit at home with no jobs and no hope, this government tells us to tighten our belts again—but their belts remain loose, lined with bonuses, bailouts, and backroom deals.
They pretend to give a little to health and education—but it’s crumbs, and it doesn’t come close to fixing the destruction caused by years of brutal cuts. There are still over 100,000 unfilled posts in the public service. Clinics without nurses. Schools without teachers. Hospitals without doctors. This is not a budget for healing—it’s a budget for managing decline.
This budget does nothing to tackle the real crisis in our country: mass unemployment. Almost half the country is jobless! This is a national emergency—but the budget treats it like an afterthought. Their only so-called “plan” is to make it easier for big business to exploit us—through more privatisation, more deregulation, and more profit-driven partnerships. This won’t create jobs. It will destroy them.
Operation Vulindlela? It’s a bulldozer clearing the way for the private sector to take over our electricity, our railways, our land. This is not development—it’s dispossession.
We cry out: No to PPPs! No to privatisation! Yes to public jobs and services for the people!
The withdrawal of vital relief measures—like real increases to social grants and new zero-rated food items—shows the cruelty at the heart of this budget. They know the people are starving, yet they continue to serve the rich. While the child support grant remains far below the food poverty line, the government dares to increase the fuel levy—raising the cost of food and transport for the poor!
This is violence through policy.
We demand a radical break from this austerity madness. South Africa needs a people’s budget that puts jobs, food, land, housing and dignity first—not profits, credit ratings, and private investment. We need:
Mass public employment programmes to rebuild our country with decent work for all.
A basic income grant that lifts every person above the poverty line.
Public housing, transport and energy projects to drive reindustrialisation and local development.
Wealth taxes on the super-rich to fund the needs of the people.
An end to the obsession with primary budget surpluses and so-called fiscal anchors that chain us to suffering.
The people did not vote for this budget. We reject it. We will not be spectators while our lives are being destroyed. This is our country, and we will fight for it.
No to Budget 3.0! Yes to a budget for the excluded!
Another South Africa is possible—but only if we organise to fight for it!
For information:
Matthews Hlabane
SAGRC – 0827079860
Vuyokazi Made
PE Amandla – 0733257009
Siyabulela MamaPE Amandla – 071 520 3712
Motsi Khokhoma
BUM – 0734907623
Nonhle Mbuthuma
ACC – 0734262955
Mahlubandile Khuhlane
UPM – 0765618909