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The research paper calculates fiscal multipliers for South Africa using a closed input-output model based on 2018 data. It finds that the average income multiplier is 1.68 and the employment multiplier is 6.9, suggesting that public spending has a significant positive impact on GDP and job creation. The authors argue that the South African government's 2020 Budget, which proposes spending reductions of approximately R48 billion, will likely reduce GDP by R81 billion and destroy approximately 330,000 jobs due to these high multipliers and the existing negative output gap.

The document assesses South Africa's adherence to the ICESCR during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting failures in revenue generation and expenditure allocation. It argues that austerity measures have undermined healthcare, education, and social security, and proposes specific fiscal reforms—such as wealth taxes and a universal basic income grant—to ensure the progressive realisation of human rights.

The document highlights a severe unemployment crisis in South Africa, worsened by COVID-19, and argues that the government's response has been insufficient to protect the right to decent work. It emphasizes deep racial and gender inequalities in job losses and the vulnerability of informal and domestic workers who lack social protections like the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF). The authors call for expanded income support, better labour law enforcement, and a legislative framework for the informal economy to meet international human rights standards.

The statement argues that IMF-conditioned austerity leads to devastating cuts in health, education, and social protection, disproportionately affecting marginalized populations. It calls for the IMF to replace fiscal consolidation with grants, debt cancellation, and progressive tax reforms to ensure a just and inclusive recovery from the pandemic.

The report argues that the COVID-19 pandemic acted as an 'X-ray,' exposing deep structural inequalities and the failure of neoliberal policies. It critiques the global fiscal response, noting that while US$ 11 trillion was mobilized, the support was unevenly distributed, favoring high-income countries and corporate interests over the global South and public services. The document proposes an "8 R" agenda for systemic change: re-valuing care, re-empowering public services, re-balancing value chains, reinforcing climate justice, re-distributing economic power, re-regulating global finance, re-inventing multilateral solidarity, and re-defining progress beyond GDP. It specifically highlights the dangers of IMF-mandated austerity in countries like Ecuador and the failure of the Global Health Security Index to predict pandemic outcomes due to its reliance on infrastructure over social determinants of health.

The report examines the wage parity of domestic workers, farmworkers, and expanded public works programme (EPWP) workers, asserting that there is no compelling evidence to justify keeping their wages lower than the general National Minimum Wage (NMW).

The report argues that austerity—defined as fiscal policy aimed at solving debt and growth problems through spending cuts and regressive taxes—leads to economic deterioration, rising unemployment, and increased inequality. It highlights that South Africa is deepening its implementation of austerity despite moderate debt levels compared to international norms. The author contends that these policies undermine constitutionally enshrined rights to health and education and proposes a shift toward a stimulus-based fiscal plan focused on progressive taxation and structural transformation.

The document reports on a 2019 meeting in Dakar where academics, policymakers, and activists critiqued the impact of neoclassical economics and neoliberalism on Africa. Key discussions focused on the failures of Structural Adjustment Programs, the 'myth' of Africa Rising, and the exclusion of gender and care work from economic metrics like GDP. The participants proposed heterodox alternatives, including the Social and Solidarity Economy, food sovereignty, and feminist economics, while outlining a strategic roadmap for building an epistemic community to promote intellectual sovereignty and inclusive development across the continent.

The report, submitted by the Budget Justice Coalition to the Select and Standing Committees on Finance, examines budgeting trends over five years and their specific effects on the social wage, particularly health and education. It evaluates the role of Parliament in budget oversight and proposes measures to enhance public engagement in budgetary decision-making.

The document analyzes the disparity between South Africa's private and public healthcare systems, noting that while public spending has increased since 1994, austerity measures and underfunding have led to severe staffing shortages and declining standards. It highlights a critical gap in per capita spending and a surge in medico-legal claims, arguing that the current funding model is insufficient to implement the National Health Insurance (NHI) or meet the Abuja Declaration targets.

South Africa is identified as the most economically unequal country in the world, with the wealthiest 10% of the population holding 90–95% of the wealth. The document asserts that poverty rates have increased, with 55.5% of the population living below the official national upper bound poverty line in 2015. It criticizes the government's use of fiscal austerity, noting real-term spending cuts in health and education, and argues that the tax system is insufficiently progressive, citing a corporate income tax rate that dropped from 50% in 1990 to 28% today. The report concludes that these policy choices threaten the fulfillment of social and economic rights and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

The document analyzes the disparity between South Africa's private and public healthcare systems, noting that while public spending has increased since 1994, austerity measures and underfunding have led to severe staffing shortages and declining standards. It highlights a significant gap in per capita spending and a surge in medico-legal claims, ultimately calling for tax reform and the doubling of public health expenditure by 2025 to support the National Health Insurance (NHI) transition.

The Training Layoff Scheme (TLS), introduced via the 'Framework for South Africa’s Response to the International Economic Crisis', allows South African companies and workers in economic stress to use layoff periods for productive training. The scheme aims to diversify worker skills and enable companies to enter specialized production or resolve production obstacles, with the ultimate goal of ensuring sustainable outcomes once regular work resumes.

The policy brief asserts that climate change threatens current and future developmental gains, necessitating that all economic endeavors and job creation initiatives be designed to be low-carbon and climate-resilient to avoid increasing the vulnerability of the poor and locking the economy into a perverse pathway.

The document challenges the narrative that South Africa's public sector is bloated, noting that it employs only about 9% of the labour force and 3.1% of the population, which is below middle-income averages. It identifies a critical shortage of frontline workers, with vacancies potentially reaching up to a million, while highlighting a trend of 'skills intensification' where high-paid managerial posts (Grades 11-16) absorb 15% of salary costs despite representing less than 6% of the workforce. The brief proposes setting minimum staffing ratios for doctors, nurses, and teachers, redeploying 25,000 to 50,000 administrative staff to frontline services, and formalising approximately 360,000 stipend workers. It calls for the abandonment of 'blunt tool' fiscal freezes and the implementation of progressive taxation to fund these developmental imperatives.

The report analyzes the regressive nature of the 2018 VAT increase in South Africa, which reduced disposable income for poor households. It evaluates existing zero-rating as generally effective and proposes 23 new categories for zero-rating—including baby food, school uniforms, and public medical services—to support vulnerable groups, particularly female-headed households. The report estimates that while expanding zero-rating would cost R17bn in revenue, a 25% luxury VAT rate on high-end goods could recover approximately R9.6bn of that loss.

The document advocates for the adoption of Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA), specifically conservation agriculture and agro-ecology, to address South Africa's challenges with water scarcity, land degradation, and climate change. It proposes transitioning smallholder and commercial farmers to these practices to secure food supplies and create jobs in the 'Catchment Economy' and land restoration. The brief outlines specific policy needs, including the finalization of the Climate Smart Agricultural Strategic Framework and the use of blended finance and green bonds to fund the transition.

The document outlines the economic necessity for South Africa to transition toward low-carbon manufacturing, identifying specific opportunities in renewable energy, transport, agriprocessing, water, and the circular economy. It emphasizes the need for policy clarity, local procurement, and a 'just transition' that protects workers and informal waste pickers.

The document outlines the challenges of South Africa's coal-dependent energy system, including environmental externalities and the financial crisis at Eskom. It proposes cancelling further coal Independent Power Producers (IPPs), reforming Eskom's business model to invest in renewables, and increasing the localisation of renewable energy manufacturing. A central theme is the 'just transition,' emphasizing the role of unions and the state in protecting vulnerable workers through re-skilling and social protection. The brief recommends the urgent finalisation of the Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) 2016 and the establishment of a Just Transition Taskforce.

The document argues that South Africa's reliance on coal has created an economic path dependency that now exposes the country to shrinking export markets and trade barriers as global climate policies tighten. To mitigate this, the author proposes a three-pronged approach: increasing investment in minerals essential for clean technologies (such as PGMs, chromium, and manganese), redeploying retrenched miners to municipal infrastructure projects, and establishing a national programme to rehabilitate over 6,000 derelict mines. The brief emphasizes a 'Just Transition' framework, calling for a dedicated taskforce and the integration of climate considerations into the Mining Charter and the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Bill.