Mr Speaker, the Treasury and the Minister stuck to their previously announced intentions to proceed with the consolidation of state finances and we have seen a major shift in the composition of spending this year. The focus of the Budget is in the right place. This Treasury, under the guidance of the new director-general and the Minister, needs all the support they can get. Cope shall support the fiscal framework.
We are at a crossroads in terms of our state finances. That's why we have seen a call in the Budget Speech by the Minister for a bit more patriotism. It's a call to each one of us - the Public Service, unions, farmers and business - to do our little bit to secure the consolidation of state finances. The Minister got cum laude reports from most economists, but that does not mean we do not have some criticism.
I do not have time to dwell on the fuel levy, on the timing and short notice of the dividend and capital gains taxes, and on the insecurity of debt guarantees. With my remaining time, I want to address the behaviour of Cosatu and the dilemma of the increasing state wage bill. Hearing of Cosatu's threats and demands, the assumption by the Treasury that they will keep the increase of the wage bill to around 5% becomes a very debatable issue. If this goes wrong, it can boomerang very negatively on all of us. Michael Lewis just published a book entitled Boomerang. If you want to know how a nation lost its financial mind, read this book. Everybody in this House should read this book, especially Cosatu. It tells the story of how Icelanders wanted to stop fishing and become investment bankers. The Greeks wanted to turn their country into a piata stuffed with cash and allow many citizens to take a whack. The Irish wanted to stop being Irish, and the Germans to be even more German. [Interjections.] If we are not careful, in the second edition of his book, Michael Lewis will add a new chapter on how South Africans blew their GDP on a state wage bill.
Mr Speaker, when you throw a boomerang, you do not want it to change shape, colour, weight and direction in midair. This is what is happening in South Africa. The government constantly throws its boomerang, loaded with luxurious cars, flights, hotels, mismanagement and corruption, to the public and to Cosatu. The President carries on to employ the third-largest Cabinet in the world, with all the costs and perceptions that go with it. That is the wrong signal to give and because of that it is easy for Cosatu to take control of the boomerang in midair and return it as an unguided missile in the form of strikes and demands.
The government and the Treasury should concentrate on changing this message that they send to the public and the unions and be sure that they buy into this new message. The President should make his Cabinet smaller - that would send a strong message to Cosatu. The Cabinet should freeze all increases in the salaries of Ministers, Deputy Ministers and their directors-general for the next three years. They did it in the UK. It will shrink the gap between the MPs and Ministers. Government must stop filling vacancies in the Public Service that do not contribute to better service delivery - haircuts, haircuts, haircuts, hon Minister! If we fail to send a strong message, all the good intentions of this Budget will boomerang on all of us.
Mike Schussler reminded us all that we could save 10% of our GDP if we paid the Public Service the same salaries as the private sector. Due to Cosatu strikes against this government, more manpower days were lost in 2011 than during the hey day of apartheid. [Time expired.]