Running towards a fiscal cliff with no parachute

A statement by Good Governance Africa critiquing Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s maiden budget speech for failing to provide a real strategy to address severe fiscal risks, including ballooning debt, a shrinking tax base, and extreme unemployment.

• The author argues that the budget speech failed to address critical fiscal problems, specifically growing debt, a shrinking tax base, rising unemployment, and an increasing public sector wage bill.
• The debt burden is described as severe, with the author warning that economic growth driven by government expenditure and temporary high commodity prices is unproductive and cannot absorb labour.
• Unemployment levels are characterized as a calamity, with the official rate exceeding the worst rates seen during the Great Depression (approximately 33%) and youth unemployment approaching 70%.
• The public sector wage bill is described as 'cancerous' relative to the shrinking tax base, and the author disputes the projection that it will average 1.8% per annum over the next three years.
• The budget speech is criticized for providing insufficient detail on climate change, the transition to renewables, the retirement of coal plants, and the energy supply gap, despite focusing on Eskom's debt.
• The author asserts that corruption and incompetence lead to wasteful expenditure that destroys infrastructure and undermines investment, suggesting that the R1.1 billion increase for the Department of Justice is insufficient to combat state criminality.

APA

Africa, G. G. (2022). Running towards a fiscal cliff with no parachute. Good Governance Africa. https://gga.org/running-towards-a-fiscal-cliff-with-no-parachute/

Chicago

Africa, Good Governance. Running towards a fiscal cliff with no parachute. Good Governance Africa, 2022. https://gga.org/running-towards-a-fiscal-cliff-with-no-parachute/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Africa |first1=Good Governance |title=Running towards a fiscal cliff with no parachute |publisher=Good Governance Africa |date=24 February 2022 |url=https://gga.org/running-towards-a-fiscal-cliff-with-no-parachute/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{africa2022running, author = {Africa, Good Governance}, title = {{Running towards a fiscal cliff with no parachute}}, publisher = {Good Governance Africa}, year = {2022}, month = feb, url = {https://gga.org/running-towards-a-fiscal-cliff-with-no-parachute/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }