COSATU presented its submission on the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill to Parliament
24 November 2021
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) presented its submission on the Division of Revenue Amendment (DORA) Bill to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations today. The Division of Revenue Amendment Bill caters for allocations to provincial and local government, in particular the adjustments provided for in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).
The MTBPS and the DORA Bill take place during multiple crises. The economy is stagnant and in its deepest recession in a century, unemployment has reached an all-time high of 44% and is expected to rise further, corruption has crippled large parts of the state and seen many key State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and municipalities collapse, billions are lost from the fiscus to wasteful expenditure and tax evasion, Eskom is limping and load shedding hindering any economic recovery, and only 40% of the adults have vaccinated threatening a devastating 4th wave of Covid-19 infections. What was fundamentally absent from the MTBPS were clear and bold interventions to turn the tide on these existential threats to workers and the economy.
Whilst COSATU is disappointed with the overall thrust of the MTBPS, the Federation welcomes many of the progressive adjustments provided for in the DORA Bill. These were demands that COSATU had championed and will benefit millions of workers and create over 550 000 jobs. These include:
Providing for the implementation of the 2021 public service wage agreement.