Chair, hon Minister and colleagues, when we as Parliament consider, review and decide on national fiscal policy, I believe that our primary and ultimate objective should be to achieve a better life for all.
The hon Minister and government have correctly identified halving the rate of unemployment and the proportion of people living in poverty to achieve a better life for all. I have a concern as far as whether government is indeed utilising all the relevant variables required to make an empirically sound determination of what the true nature and extent of the quality of life is of ordinary South Africans.
In this regard academic Anthony Butler points out that income per head, notwithstanding its relevance, does not tell us the full story of human experience in a society. I share his assertion that greater emphasis should be put, for instance, on the UN's Human Development Index - HDI. This index helps us to realise that the overall lives of ordinary citizens, and not just bold economic growth statistics alone, should be used as the ultimate criteria for assessing the development of a country. I am not pleading for a move away from current practices, but that we employ all possible measures in order to give a genuine reflection of how we are doing and not just use measures that glorify ourselves.
Using this index could, for instance, have assisted the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to identify that a need exists in the West Coast community for a sustainable community initiative that would have alleviated the hardships brought about by current fishing quotas, which could, in part, have been financed by the R2 million budgeted for a conference. Careful fiscal spending is an absolute necessity given the strain inflation has put on the buying power of the poor, requiring that we know exactly where the needs are.
The NA supports the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement. I thank you.