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The IEJ argues that South Africa's 2025 budget continues a pattern of fiscal consolidation and austerity that stifles economic growth and fails to meet constitutional obligations. The document criticizes the use of regressive tax measures, such as the general fuel levy increase and frozen personal income tax brackets, and highlights insufficient spending on healthcare, education, and social grants. It specifically calls for the expansion of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant and a shift away from Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in infrastructure. The IEJ proposes alternative revenue sources, including increasing the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) rate to 28% and utilizing the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account (GFECRA), while recommending a more aggressive approach to debt management and wealth taxation.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) criticizes South Africa's Budget 3.0 as an 'austerity budget' that reverses previous spending gains. The IEJ highlights significant reductions in non-interest spending, social grants, and infrastructure projects compared to earlier budget versions. The document argues that the government is relying on regressive revenue measures, such as fuel levy increases and unadjusted income tax brackets, while ignoring progressive alternatives and failing to utilize available reserves like the GFECRA.

The Universal Basic Income Coalition (UBIC) warns that National Treasury's new budget conditions for the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) will lead to the wrongful exclusion of millions of vulnerable people from social grants, including older persons, disability, child support, and care dependency grants.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) calls for a break from National Treasury's austerity policies in the 2025 National Budget. The IEJ argues that spending cuts harm the poor and hinder long-term growth, and proposes specific immediate and medium-term tax reforms to fill revenue gaps created by the reversal of a proposed VAT increase. These proposals include restoring Corporate Income Tax to 28%, removing tax breaks for high-income earners, and implementing wealth and financial transaction taxes.

The document argues that mainstream 'optimal tax theory' is flawed due to unrealistic neoclassical assumptions and that progressive wealth taxation can generate significant revenue without hindering economic growth. It examines case studies from Argentina, Belgium, France, Colombia, and other nations to demonstrate the viability of various wealth tax instruments. For South Africa, the paper recommends expanding taxes on wealth income, increasing dividend taxes, implementing a financial transaction tax, and introducing a progressive net wealth tax, provided these are supported by tighter capital controls and improved administrative capacity.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) welcomes the reversal of a VAT hike but warns that the National Treasury should not use the resulting revenue shortfall to implement budget cuts. The IEJ argues that the Treasury's claim of a R75 billion shortfall over the medium term is a 'false binary' and suggests alternative funding sources, such as tapping into the Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserve Account (GFECRA), removing tax breaks for high-income earners, and raising the Corporate Income Tax rate.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) asserts that current debt restructuring mechanisms, such as the G20’s Common Framework, are insufficient because they treat indebtedness as a liquidity issue rather than a structural result of colonial legacies and trade imbalances. The paper advocates for a Global South Debtors’ Coalition to coordinate negotiations and collective economic planning, focusing on food sovereignty, energy independence, and industrial policy. It proposes a "Bargain of the Century" to leverage the Global South's resources and market size to secure fairer trade and technology transfers, particularly during South Africa's G20 Presidency.

The Universal Basic Income Coalition (UBIC) argues that proposed amendments to the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant regulations are insufficient and ignore a High Court ruling declaring key elements unconstitutional. UBIC highlights that the grant value of R370 remains below half the food poverty line (R796) and that the means test threshold of R624 continues to exclude needy applicants. The submission criticizes the short three-week public consultation window and the persistence of digital and linguistic barriers, urging the government to replace piecemeal annual extensions with a permanent, inclusive universal basic income grant to support 9 million food-insecure people.

The Universal Basic Income Coalition (UBIC) argues that proposed amendments to the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant regulations in South Africa are insufficient and fail to address long-standing exclusionary barriers. UBIC highlights that the late publication of amendments created uncertainty for beneficiaries and that the current system continues to exclude millions through digital barriers, restrictive means-tests, and a failure to adjust grant values for inflation. The coalition specifically criticizes the proposed deletion of sub-regulation 3(b), which may render the collection of certain applicant data baseless, and calls for the grant to be transitioned into a permanent basic income programme rather than continuing annual piecemeal extensions.

The document examines how international human rights law can reshape sovereign debt restructuring to protect socio-economic rights in the Global South. It identifies key principles—including the right to development, self-determination, and good faith—that should replace the current 'non-system' of contractual negotiations. The authors advocate for a legally binding statutory mechanism under the United Nations to ensure transparency, prevent abusive holdout litigation by vulture funds, and prioritize minimum standards of living over creditor interests.

The document analyzes sovereign debt in the Global South as a tool of neocolonial control that perpetuates structural dependencies in food, energy, and manufacturing. It critiques existing G20 restructuring mechanisms for treating debt as a liquidity issue rather than a structural one. Drawing on the failure of the 1980s Cartagena Initiative, the authors advocate for a Global South Debtors’ Coalition to leverage collective bargaining power. This coalition would pursue 'The Bargain of the Century,' proposing that Global South nations use their strategic mineral wealth and market size to secure technology transfers from major powers like China, the US, and the EU. The paper specifically urges South Africa to use its G20 Presidency to advance this framework, linking debt justice to food sovereignty, renewable energy independence, and regional industrial policies.

The report examines how rising external debt service costs in Africa are crowding out essential spending on health, education, and climate adaptation. It critiques the G20's Common Framework as slow and insufficient, proposing reforms such as automatic debt standstills, enhanced Debt Sustainability Analyses (DSAs) that include climate risks, and a 'fair' comparability of treatment rule for creditors.

The IEJ statement advocates for G20 High-Level Principles on Green Industrial Policy that prioritize state-led investment and structural transformation over private-sector-led, export-oriented models. It emphasizes that green industrialization can create approximately 24 million new jobs globally and reduce inequality by shifting developing economies away from commodity extraction toward green manufacturing and domestic technological capabilities.

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) criticizes the 2025 National Budget for maintaining a fiscal strategy focused on debt stabilization and regressive taxation, specifically the proposed VAT increases and personal income tax bracket freezes. While acknowledging a shift away from explicit spending cuts, the IEJ argues that expenditure increases in health, education, and social grants remain insufficient to restore pre-pandemic service levels or address food insecurity. The statement calls for Parliament to amend the budget by increasing corporate tax, removing tax breaks for high earners, and expanding the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant.

A joint statement by civil society organisations demanding the censure of South African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. The organisations argue that the Minister used a press interview to mislead the public by claiming the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant caused budget constraints, thereby attempting to justify a VAT increase and bypass government policy. They propose alternative revenue-raising measures, such as wealth taxes and removing corporate tax incentives, to avoid harming the poor.

The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) and the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) oppose a proposed VAT increase in South Africa, claiming it disproportionately harms low-income households, African women, and people with disabilities. They argue that such a regressive tax is incongruent with the constitutional mandate for transformative governance and social justice. Instead, the organizations advocate for progressive alternatives, including wealth taxes, increased company tax, and improved tax collection efficiency, to address budget shortfalls without exacerbating hunger and poverty.

The paper proposes a state-led fiscal strategy for South Africa's energy transition, centered on a climate response fund. It recommends mobilizing domestic resources through carbon taxes, fuel levies, and mineral royalties, alongside the issuance of climate bonds. The goal is to protect vulnerable workers, particularly in coal-dependent regions like Mpumalanga, and provide an estimated R100 billion annually for climate priorities.

The document argues that South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) is currently unable to meet the country's climate goals due to a reliance on commercial financing and a portfolio skewed toward carbon-intensive sectors. It proposes a significant recapitalisation of R280 billion, the introduction of concessional lending at 2% below prime, and the diversification of the IDC board to include civil society and workers to ensure a just transition.

The document assesses the limitations of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) in South Africa, noting that its focus on infrastructure may sideline workers. It proposes reallocating bank lending and retirement funds to unlock billions for onshore developmental projects and recommends implementing a Green Financial Taxonomy and targeted credit allocation to support a worker-centred transition.

Civil society organisations are protesting the handover of McDonald’s-branded ‘Mi Desk’ desks to Cape Town schools, facilitated by the Minister of Basic Education. The groups argue that such donations are not charity but junk food marketing targeting vulnerable children amidst a crisis of malnutrition and obesity. They contend that corporate philanthropy fills gaps created by state austerity and disinvestment, particularly in rural and working-class communities. The statement calls for the immediate recall of branded desks, the finalisation of regulations to restrict the marketing of harmful foods to children, and proper funding of education by the National Treasury to remove the need for corporate partnerships.