[ad_1]
- Opposition MPs continued to question the government’s priorities after the R10.5 billion bailout for SAA versus budget cuts to other departments.
- “South Africa needs an airline,” Vice President David Mabuza told the National Assembly.
- Mabuza promised that the money for SAA will be “well spent.”
As the opposition continues to question the government’s priorities by pointing to budget cuts for services used to fund the R10.5 billion bailout for South African Airways (SAA), Vice President David Mabuza stood firm: “South Africa needs an airline.”
The SAA bailout was announced by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni last month when he presented his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS), which contained several cuts to other departments to fund the R10.5 billion lifeline for the shaky SAA.
It provided food for opposition parliamentarians to shoot holes in the good faith of the ANC government in terms of service delivery.
Answering questions in the National Assembly on Thursday, it was Mabuza’s turn to face the line of fire in defense of rescuing SAA at the expense of other departments.
He said that, as Mboweni explained, government spending has outstripped its revenue over the past decade.
This requires “tough decisions” to tend to “overlap responsibilities.”
“SAA financing must be understood in line with the preservation of strategic state instruments and catalysts for transformation, growth, development, service provision and job creation,” Mabuza said.
He said the “general skepticism” from some South Africans about the feasibility of providing financial support to SAA is understandable, especially in the context of the “historic challenges” experienced by the airline.
These historical challenges include “a lot of corruption in SAA”.
“South Africa needs an airline. We are unfortunate [about] what happened to SAA in the past, ”he said.
Chief Prosecutor Natasha Mazzone, who posed the original question, said that since serving on the Public Companies Portfolio Committee in 2011, SAA had 13 different turnaround strategies, none that took off and the airline still has one ” archaic and defunct structure “.
He asked if the Cabinet would press charges against court-declared delinquent director Dudu Myeni, former SAA board chairman and former president Jacob Zuma accused of corruption.
He didn’t get a direct answer, except for the usual answer that anyone with information should press charges.
However, Mabuza said it will be different this time, because the government is looking for a “capital partner” to help operate the airline.
IFP MP Liezl van der Merwe pointed to a budget cut of 562 million rand for the Department of the Interior.
“How do you reconcile this budget cut, knowing that our borders are porous?” she asked.
He also asked if the Cabinet would investigate whether any minister aided and instigated the Bushiris accused of corruption in their “great escape” to Malawi.
The Bushiri question was left unanswered.
“We are aware of the situation at our borders,” he said, admitting that the border is “quite porous” and that “the fences have collapsed.”
He said the Border Management Authority, which will soon be implemented, should remedy that.
On the budget cut, he said: “Government departments must change priorities.”
“SAA is important in this country. We need this airline.”
Again, he said the government is “aware of the mismanagement that occurred in the past.”
He said that the Department of Public Companies and the Treasury will be attentive to make sure this happens.
We can assure South Africans that the money invested in SAA will be used properly.
A day earlier, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize explained a cut to the health budget during a pandemic, saying the government has a “challenge of competing priorities.”
DA deputy Siviwe Gwarube said the government made the “spectacularly shocking decision to cut the health budget by 6.6%, which is equivalent to more than R680 million” during the devastating Covid-19 pandemic.
“How can your government justify cutting frontline services at a time like this to rescue an entity that has not been viable for decades, while healthcare workers are committing suicide to mount a decent response to this pandemic? What could be the ethical justification for South Africa’s biased priorities in this regard? “Gwarube asked.
After a nervous laugh, Mkhize said: “No, the question being asked is a question that is a bit outside the Department of Health. Therefore, I am not going to address the problems of South African Airways.”
He said the Treasury made additional appropriations to the Health Department when the pandemic hit.
“I think what the government faces from time to time is a challenge of competing priorities, where it becomes necessary, you know, to try to rebalance and shift priorities,” Mkhize said.
“In this case, we have had a difficult time, in which several departments obtained funds to support the Department of Health.”
I think what the government faces from time to time is a challenge of competing priorities, where it becomes necessary, you know, to try to rebalance and shift priorities.
Two weeks ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa answered questions in the National Assembly.
As these things tend to happen, corruption was high on the agenda and, as always, Ramaphosa reiterated the government’s commitment to stamping out the scourge.
In the run-up to this year’s MTBPS, the National Director of Public Prosecution, Shamila Batohi, told the Justice Portfolio Committee that a proposed budget cut would undo the accomplishments of the NPA and “undermine the President’s commitment to rebuild the NPA. “.
However, the Justice Department’s adjustment budget, from which the NPA is funded, stated: “R194,554 million is transferred to the Department of Public Enterprises for the implementation of the South African Airways business rescue plan in terms of Section 30[2][e] of the Law on Public Finance Management (1999) “.
In total, the budget of the Department of Justice is cut by R886 105,000.
Outside of this, the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) loses R21 203,000.
The budget of the Public Protector’s Office is cut by R16 114,000.
In total, the budget of the National Prosecutor’s Office (NPA) is cut by R136,595,000. However, its budget for employee compensation is cut by R164,500,000.
ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe asked if Ramaphosa would agree with ACDP that instead of bailing out bankrupt state-owned companies, the money will be better spent fighting corruption.
“I would like to say that sitting where I sit, as president and as cabinet of the Republic of South Africa, we have a responsibility to always seek to create a good balance between what we spend, the resources of the country, I add, the resources of the people and the ends we want to achieve, “said Ramaphosa.
He said financing the criminal justice system is a “recurring challenge.”
“With the fiscal challenges that we have, we are discovering that we have to balance, we have to balance the spending processes in various departments and the needs that all these departments have.”
He said state-owned companies were established to advance the country’s development goals and “from time to time run into financial difficulties.”
With the fiscal challenges that we have, we are discovering that we have to balance, we have to balance the spending processes in various departments and the needs that all these departments have.
President Cyril Ramaphosa
