Tito Mboweni's austerity budget betrays the president's R500bn rescue package: we need to pull back from the precipice

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) and other experts contend that the South African government's Supplementary Covid-19 Budget is an austerity measure rather than a rescue package. They argue that the budget provides only R36-billion in new spending—less than 1% of GDP—compared to the promised R500-billion, and may involve cuts between R400-billion and R600-billion over the next few years. The authors claim this approach violates constitutional obligations to socio-economic rights and risks deepening the economic depression, potentially increasing the GDP drop from 10% to over 16%.

• The Supplementary Covid-19 Budget significantly deviates from the president's R500-billion rescue package, providing only R36-billion in new spending, which represents less than 1% of GDP.
• The budget is characterized as a brutal austerity package with projected cutbacks over the next two to three years estimated by economists to range from R400-billion to R600-billion.
• Specific commitments within the rescue package were largely ignored in the budget, most notably the jobs programme, which received only R6-billion instead of the promised R100-billion.
• Failure to properly implement the rescue package could increase the estimated GDP drop for 2020 from 10% to more than 16%.
• The IEJ and other civil society groups argue that the budget's austerity measures violate the government's constitutional obligations to progressively realize socio-economic rights.
• Implementation of various relief schemes has been insufficient: the wage support scheme reached at most 50% of affected workers, the food nutrition programme reached only 12% of those in need, and the special Covid-19 grant reached 15% to 20% of intended beneficiaries.

APA

Coleman, N. (2020). Tito Mboweni's austerity budget betrays the president's R500bn rescue package: we need to pull back from the precipice. Institute for Economic Justice. https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/tito-mbowenis-austerity-budget-betrays-the-presidents-r500bn-rescue-package-we-need-to-pull-back-from-the-precipice/

Chicago

Coleman, Neil. Tito Mboweni's austerity budget betrays the president's R500bn rescue package: we need to pull back from the precipice. Institute for Economic Justice, 2020. https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/tito-mbowenis-austerity-budget-betrays-the-presidents-r500bn-rescue-package-we-need-to-pull-back-from-the-precipice/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Coleman |first1=Neil |title=Tito Mboweni's austerity budget betrays the president's R500bn rescue package: we need to pull back from the precipice |publisher=Institute for Economic Justice |date=7 July 2020 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/tito-mbowenis-austerity-budget-betrays-the-presidents-r500bn-rescue-package-we-need-to-pull-back-from-the-precipice/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{coleman2020tito, author = {Coleman, Neil}, title = {{Tito Mboweni's austerity budget betrays the president's R500bn rescue package: we need to pull back from the precipice}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2020}, month = jul, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/in-the-media/tito-mbowenis-austerity-budget-betrays-the-presidents-r500bn-rescue-package-we-need-to-pull-back-from-the-precipice/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }