Hon Chairperson, hon members, as far as the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement is concerned, the UDM concurs with the hon Minister of Finance's assessment that the economic outlook is grim. Despite marginal improvements in economic indicators, it is definitely not time yet to celebrate the end of the recession.
The UDM welcomes the exchange control reforms and other measures to stabilise the currency. The UDM also welcomes the hon Minister's strong words on corruption. However, in this regard and equally so for the other policy priorities that he identified, we are sceptical about government's commitment and ability to deliver. These sound like the same old promises dressed up in a new language. A prime example of this is the so-called "new growth plan". We have had the RDP, Gear and Asgisa come and go without any impact on the massive rate of unemployment in this country.
As far as the Bill before us is concerned, the Adjustments Appropriation Bill is a regular constituent of the Budget cycle to accommodate the occurrence of unexpected and unavoidable expenditure. Such expenditure is an understandable occurrence since economic fluctuations, consequent changes in tax revenues, as well as the fluctuation of revenue collection itself all impact on the difference between the projected Budget and the actual Budget. It is appropriate that this Budget cycle recognises this and allows for a mid-course correction where necessary. It is also at this point that we often detect the mismanagement or misuse of budgets, which is the other reason why adjustments need to be made.
As the UDM indicated last year, the introduction of newly constituted or reconstituted departments and Ministries has impacted significantly on the overall Budget process and also on these appropriations. The question remains ... Thank you, hon Chairperson. [Time expired.]
The DEPUTY MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHERIES: Chairperson, the hon Minister of Finance succeeded to a large degree in maintaining a balance between financial restrictions caused by the recession and the demands placed on government spending. Where the Minister earlier this year predicted a growth rate of 2,3% for South Africa, the growth rate forecast has now been adjusted upwards to 3%. This is positive and indicates how the country is slowly moving out of the recession.
However, to create five million new job opportunities in the next 10 years, as the Minister had undertaken to do, a growth rate of 6% is required. In the Minister's speech there was, however, no indication as to how the growth rate would double from 3% to 6% in order to accomplish this objective.
Suid-Afrika is besig om al meer 'n welsynstaat te word. Waar die Skandinawiese en Europese lande hiermee kon eksperimenteer, kan ons dit net eenvoudig nie bekostig nie. Tans kry ongeveer 14 miljoen mense uit 'n bevolking van 50 miljoen maatskaplike toelaes van die staat. Dit moet vergelyk word met 'n belastingbasis van 5,3 miljoen tot 5,6 miljoen mense uit die bevolking van 50 miljoen. Dan gaan die ontvangers van staatstoelaes in die toekoms ng groei tot 19 miljoen. Dit is net 'n onvolhoubare verhouding van een belastingbetaler vir elke drie persone wat staatstoelaes ontvang. Die belastingbasis moet vergroot en die aantal toelaes moet verminder. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.) [South Africa is increasingly becoming a welfare state. While Scandinavian and European countries could experiment in this regard, we simply cannot afford to do so. At present about 14 million people out of a population of 50 million are receiving state grants. This should be compared to a tax base of between 5,3 and 5,6 million people out of a population of 50 million. And in the future those receiving state grants are still going to increase to 19 million. This is just an unsustainable ratio of one taxpayer for every three persons receiving state grants. The tax base must be broadened and the number of grants must decrease.]
The Minister also made provision for the 7,6% salary adjustment of public workers following strikes earlier this year. It is an economic truth in the private sector - but also in government - that where a salary adjustment is higher than the inflation rate, this has to be accompanied with increased productivity to prevent it from pushing up inflation. The only other way to handle this is by scaling down the number of jobs available.
The question is whether the Public Service's productivity will increase. If this does not happen, the number of jobs will have to be reduced in order to prevent government spending on salaries that are increasing unnecessarily. In this regard, the proposed measures to combat corruption in the Public Service as well as the attempts to curb the unnecessary growth of the Public Service through unnecessary administrative personnel are welcomed. I thank you.