The PSCU has taken a stance against the government’s intention to cut spending. [Picture: CABRI]
The Public Service and Commercial Union of South Africa (PSCU) has slammed the government’s intention to downsize, claiming nearly 100 000 jobs would be lost.
On Tuesday, The Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said public-sector expenditure cuts would be prioritised over the next nine months to “restore confidence and bolster the growth strategy going forward,” reported News24.
The move prompted backlash from the trade union. Astrid Al-Anani, deputy president of the PSCU, said it would deliver a blow to the lives of some 80 000 workers who would become jobless.
“We find ourselves in a time where we have to honestly sit with each other and say the system we currently have is no longer working. We have to start looking at how to make it affordable for human beings to survive and to have a life. We’re making it impossible for everybody to have a fair chance of life,” she said, in an interview on Salaamedia.
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Stabilising the economy
According to the Presidency, spending cuts were necessary in order to revitalise the economy. Magwenya told News24 “unsustainable public debt levels due to stagnant GDP growth” had driven the government to consider trimming its spending.
However, Al-Anani claimed the move was merely meant to appease foreign investors at the cost of livelihoods.
“It’s not the first time that we are hearing of it. It has been hinted at during previous years’ wage negotiations. It has been simmering and we believe, ultimately, to appease even international investors, there has always been an intention to reduce the public service.”
She said unions had previously raised the issue of public servants being burdened. In her view, the public service was under-staffed – contrary to suggestions by experts that it was bloated.
“[In] previous years, it was raised that jobs are not being filled, that there’s not enough supply, people are working excessive overtime. The need for services to be delivered is still there. Money is still there. The question is just ‘how is it allocated?’”
Delivering the budget to Parliament in February, finance minister Enoch Godongwana said the total bill for South Africa’s public debt was at R4.7 trillion. Cosatu, for one, saw the country’s fiscal position as being weak, but Al-Adanani believed it was just a matter of properly allocating funds.
