Imali Yesizwe

The Budget Justice Coalition (BJC) argues that South Africa's National Treasury has implemented a regressive austerity budget since 2012, prioritising debt reduction over essential social spending. This approach has led to systemic underinvestment in health, education, and social security, which the BJC claims was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report, 'Imali Yesizwe', advocates for a transition to a human rights-based budget that focuses on progressive tax reform, the introduction of a Universal Basic Income Grant (UBIG), and increased investment in the care economy and clean energy. It specifically criticises the use of Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) as a tool for cuts and calls for greater fiscal transparency and public participation in the budgeting process to ensure the progressive realisation of constitutional rights.

• The Budget Justice Coalition (BJC) asserts that South Africa has been implementing austerity budgeting since 2012, which prioritises debt reduction through spending cuts and tax increases at the expense of socio-economic rights.
• The BJC argues that the National Treasury's claim that fiscal policy has been expansionary is misleading because it includes non-discretionary debt service costs; when excluding these, non-interest expenditure failed to keep pace with CPI inflation and population growth in four of the last five financial years.
• Austerity measures have negatively impacted state capacity, evidenced by high vacancy rates in the health sector and budget cuts to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS), which undermine the fight against corruption and revenue collection.
• The report highlights a 'gender-blind' budget that disproportionately affects women, who bear the brunt of unpaid care work and are more vulnerable to the loss of public services caused by austerity.
• The BJC criticises the introduction of Zero Based Budgeting (ZBB) by the National Treasury, arguing it will be used to justify further cuts rather than ensuring socio-economic priorities are funded.
• The document identifies a critical failure in the right to basic education, noting that government spending per learner decreased by an average of 2.3% between 2009 and 2018, and that the 2020 Supplementary Budget further cut school infrastructure grants by R1.7 billion.
• The report advocates for the introduction of a Universal Basic Income Grant (UBIG) and the immediate increase of the Child Support Grant, COVID-19 SRD, and Caregiver grants to the food poverty line of R585 per month.
• The BJC proposes progressive tax reforms to increase revenue, including the implementation of a permanent annual net wealth tax (0.5-2.5%), increasing corporate income tax, and raising taxes on high-income earners.
• The report notes that South Africa is not on track to meet Sustainable Development Goal 6 for water and sanitation, citing a lack of maintenance and the failure of municipalities to use resources effectively.
• The document argues for a 'just, clean energy transition' away from coal mining and the protection of biodiversity, noting that the Department of Environmental Affairs is allocated only 0.5% of the national budget.
• The BJC suggests that the government could raise over R120 billion in revenue by implementing a three-year 'pension holiday' from contributions to the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), given the fund's significant surpluses.
• The report calls for a shift toward 'social accountability' in the budget process, noting that while South Africa scores high on fiscal transparency (87/100), public participation remains very low (24/100).

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2020). Imali Yesizwe. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/BJC-Imali_Yesizwe-22oct-1.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Imali Yesizwe. 2020. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/BJC-Imali_Yesizwe-22oct-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Imali Yesizwe |date=21 October 2020 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/BJC-Imali_Yesizwe-22oct-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjustice2020imali, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Imali Yesizwe}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2020}, month = oct, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/BJC-Imali_Yesizwe-22oct-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }