Appropriations Bill Speech by Lance Greyling, MP for the Independent Democrats
2005-03-15. Madam Speaker, the budget that is presented annually can be seen as a visible expression of the government's priorities. Various political pronouncements that are made concerning the government's plans will become nothing more than rhetoric if budgetary allocations are not made to realize them. When drawing up this budget there are obviously competing concerns and it would be impossible to please all sectors of society. The Independent Democrats believe, however, that this budget, despite some concerns, represents a good balancing act between the demands of the different sectors.
We are happy to see that the
government has continued its trend of increasing expenditure and
carving out a greater role for itself in fostering development in South
Africa. The ID has continually argued that a strong developmental state
is needed to bridge the huge divides still present in our society. In
fact the ID believes that the state could and should be doing more and
that even greater expenditure should be directed at our key social
sectors such as health, education and social development. Through its
astute financial management of the economy over the last ten years the
government has made available extra resources which should now be spent
on truly improving the social base of our society.
The ID wishes to commend the South African Revenue Service for the extra revenue it keeps collecting year after year. The ID maintains, however, that the true beneficiaries of this increased revenue stream must always be the poor. The most direct way in which to allocate these funds is through the grant system. It is therefore unacceptable to the ID that in the context of increasing revenue streams, the increases in grant allocation has hardly even kept pace with inflation. The ID understands the government's concern that payments for grants are growing, but in a country that suffers from structural unemployment and is characterized by extremely high levels of poverty, grants are often the only safety net available to poor households. We should be comforted in the knowledge that more people living below the poverty line are receiving some form of government assistance.
The ID does not believe the government's argument that grants create dependency. Poverty creates dependency. Poor people without hope of a job are often dependent on their neighbours' for money or a sole breadwinner in the household to keep the family afloat. We need to recognize that grants are playing a huge role in poverty alleviation and where possible bolster them to play it more effectively. In this regard, the ID would urge the government to start making plans for rolling out the Child Support Grant to children in the age group 15 to 18 as per the definition of children contained in the constitution. While this might seem expensive to the government, it in fact represents only half of the money that was given away in tax cuts this year.
In terms of tax cuts, the ID does support offering certain tax relief to companies as contained in this year's budget. There are, however, no guarantees that local direct investment and jobs will necessarily follow corporate tax cuts. The government should therefore develop a framework similar to the one that operates in Malaysia where there is direct rewards from the fiscus for positive performance in this regard.
In terms of education, the ID strongly welcomes the extra R6 billion that has been set aside to increase the salaries of educators. This is a sector which is grossly undervalued in our society, and it is reflected in falling numbers of young people enrolling to become teachers. Unless drastic action is taken to make this an attractive profession we will be faced with a crisis of teacher supply in this country. In his state of the nation address last year the President firmly stated that by the end of this financial year no child will be taught under trees or in dangerous structures.
It is clear that we have not reached this target, and the ID is concerned that the needed resources have not been made available to ensure this target is reached by the end of next year. Current estimates place the resources needed to achieve this goal at between 12 to 20 billion rand. ID would argue that such money should be made available through a conditional grant to provinces to ensure that this target is finally met. The lack of schools, particularly in rural areas means that many children are not gaining the education they are guaranteed under the constitution. The ID welcomes the increase to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, but we also believe that innovative fiscus mechanisms can be introduced to avoid young graduates from finding themselves in a debt trap. ID feels that loan repayments to the NSFAS should be made tax deductible.
ID has first hand experience of witnessing the crisis affecting service delivery to children. A great deal of these services, including statutory services, are being provided by NGOs and CBOs. Despite this reality there does not seem to be any more money allocated through the equitable share to provinces to allocate to non-governmental agencies. It seems that we are relying on volunteers and people's altruism to deliver much needed services. Services such as home based care and child support should be run through NGOs and CBOs and adequate provision must be made for people's salaries. The ID believes that until the State adequately supports those that support children we will never be able to put the rights of children first.
The ID further welcomes the allocation of R6 billion to finalize land restitution claims but we are extremely concerned that only R12 million has been allocated to the implementation of the Communal Land Rights Bill. This is woefully inadequate to restore tenure to people living in areas like the Eastern Cape, and the delays will add to the confusion and paralysis of development there.
In general the ID supports the budget though, and would plead with government departments to spend their allocations in an effective manner so that we can truly bridge the divides in our society and create a prosperous nation for us all.
I thank you.
The ID wishes to commend the South African Revenue Service for the extra revenue it keeps collecting year after year. The ID maintains, however, that the true beneficiaries of this increased revenue stream must always be the poor. The most direct way in which to allocate these funds is through the grant system. It is therefore unacceptable to the ID that in the context of increasing revenue streams, the increases in grant allocation has hardly even kept pace with inflation. The ID understands the government's concern that payments for grants are growing, but in a country that suffers from structural unemployment and is characterized by extremely high levels of poverty, grants are often the only safety net available to poor households. We should be comforted in the knowledge that more people living below the poverty line are receiving some form of government assistance.
The ID does not believe the government's argument that grants create dependency. Poverty creates dependency. Poor people without hope of a job are often dependent on their neighbours' for money or a sole breadwinner in the household to keep the family afloat. We need to recognize that grants are playing a huge role in poverty alleviation and where possible bolster them to play it more effectively. In this regard, the ID would urge the government to start making plans for rolling out the Child Support Grant to children in the age group 15 to 18 as per the definition of children contained in the constitution. While this might seem expensive to the government, it in fact represents only half of the money that was given away in tax cuts this year.
In terms of tax cuts, the ID does support offering certain tax relief to companies as contained in this year's budget. There are, however, no guarantees that local direct investment and jobs will necessarily follow corporate tax cuts. The government should therefore develop a framework similar to the one that operates in Malaysia where there is direct rewards from the fiscus for positive performance in this regard.
In terms of education, the ID strongly welcomes the extra R6 billion that has been set aside to increase the salaries of educators. This is a sector which is grossly undervalued in our society, and it is reflected in falling numbers of young people enrolling to become teachers. Unless drastic action is taken to make this an attractive profession we will be faced with a crisis of teacher supply in this country. In his state of the nation address last year the President firmly stated that by the end of this financial year no child will be taught under trees or in dangerous structures.
It is clear that we have not reached this target, and the ID is concerned that the needed resources have not been made available to ensure this target is reached by the end of next year. Current estimates place the resources needed to achieve this goal at between 12 to 20 billion rand. ID would argue that such money should be made available through a conditional grant to provinces to ensure that this target is finally met. The lack of schools, particularly in rural areas means that many children are not gaining the education they are guaranteed under the constitution. The ID welcomes the increase to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, but we also believe that innovative fiscus mechanisms can be introduced to avoid young graduates from finding themselves in a debt trap. ID feels that loan repayments to the NSFAS should be made tax deductible.
ID has first hand experience of witnessing the crisis affecting service delivery to children. A great deal of these services, including statutory services, are being provided by NGOs and CBOs. Despite this reality there does not seem to be any more money allocated through the equitable share to provinces to allocate to non-governmental agencies. It seems that we are relying on volunteers and people's altruism to deliver much needed services. Services such as home based care and child support should be run through NGOs and CBOs and adequate provision must be made for people's salaries. The ID believes that until the State adequately supports those that support children we will never be able to put the rights of children first.
The ID further welcomes the allocation of R6 billion to finalize land restitution claims but we are extremely concerned that only R12 million has been allocated to the implementation of the Communal Land Rights Bill. This is woefully inadequate to restore tenure to people living in areas like the Eastern Cape, and the delays will add to the confusion and paralysis of development there.
In general the ID supports the budget though, and would plead with government departments to spend their allocations in an effective manner so that we can truly bridge the divides in our society and create a prosperous nation for us all.
I thank you.
