IN CONVERSATION WITH MATTHEW PARKS

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) presented its submission on the 2026/27 Budget's Division of Revenue Bill to Parliament’s Select Committee: Appropriations. COSATU is extremely disappointed with the lackluster 2026/27 Budget and Medium-Term Expenditure Framework. Whilst appreciating that there are some important allocations that COSATU campaigned for in the Budget, it fails to respond decisively to the fundamental crises facing the working class and the economy, in particular a 41.1% unemployment rate, economic growth far below the 3% needed to create jobs, struggling public and municipal services and State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), entrenched levels of poverty and inequality, and endemic crime and corruption. Tragically the Budget is focused on balancing the books not at aggressively kickstarting economic growth or tackling unemployment. Key to providing an environment where the economy can take off and the lives of the working class are improved, is to ensure that frontline public services have the resources needed to fulfill their constitutional and developmental mandates. We welcome investments in health and education, in particular R19 billion allocations to enroll 300 000 Grade R learners; R7.8 billion for the National Health Insurance Grants plus R24 billion for revitalising public healthcare, R92 billion for district health programmes, the building of 7 new provincial hospitals and R21 billion for the employment of doctors over the MTEF. Instagram · Twitter