JOHANNESBURG - Think tank, Free Market Foundation, has called for Cabinet to be downsized as the country continues to weigh its finances.
The latest call comes as the National Treasury prepares to table the medium-term budget policy statement at the National Assembly on Wednesday. While the MTBPS comes amid a better outlook for the country’s public finances, officials that hold the strings to the public purse have warned that tight measures need to be in place to limit spending and bring debt down.
Head of policy at the Free Market Foundation, Martin van Staden, said Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana needs to have tough talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa about the bloated Cabinet. "The ‘Government of National Unity’ was received and born in sin. Minister Godongwana must assist the president to bring about necessary fiscal prudence by reigning in out-of-control public sector spending, particularly public sector wages, provide some tax relief, and rid the government balance sheet of uneconomic, costly state-owned enterprises."