Praise for fiscal responsibility, criticism of spiralling debt

Political leaders are split on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's medium-term budget policy statement (MTBPS), with responses ranging from praise of fiscal responsibility to critiques over unmet priorities.

- Chulumanco Mahamba

DA leader John Steenhuisen said the MTBPS was a collective reflection of the priorities of the government of national unity (GNU) and a good precursor to the medium-term development plan that will come out in January.

"I commend Mr Godongwana for the right diagnosis, but now he's also giving us the right remedy for that diagnosis and I'm very excited about us taking these first tentative steps on a new path of fiscal responsibility and, hopefully, growth and jobs for South Africans thereafter," he said.

Government debt remained a headache. The minister said debt had "risen too fast and is too high".

EFF leader Julius Malema rejected the budget, saying it was the first "neoliberal" budget of the GNU which "prioritises the racialised apartheid styles of economic growth".