BOSA's Maimane launches 'Budget to the people' initiative at Parliament

CAPE TOWN - Build One South Africa (BOSA) leader Mmusi Maimane has launched his party’s "Budget to the people" initiative at Parliament to mobilise and give citizens a chance to make inputs.

The party said the initiative would ask South Africans exactly what they wanted to see in the national budget, which Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will table in exactly a week.

The initiative will span the next seven days through budget community town halls, including a digital service to canvass South African views.

Maimane said that BOSA would ask South Africans one simple question: "What do you want to see in the national budget?"

He said that the last two attempts to table the national budget had been marred by "political infighting" and a "deadlock" within the Government of National Unity (GNU), paralysing Parliament while citizens continue to suffer.

He said that it was time to listen to citizens and what they wanted to be included in the budget.

"We begin and we launch this tour of going around and seeing people, asking them their input in what we would like to call the people’s budget tour. It will be a seven-day mobilisation where we will hear from ordinary South Africans about what they want to see. We will be going around asking them."

Maimane said that during the initiative, BOSA would be engaging citizens on the party’s growth charter, a blueprint for how South Africa can grow the economy at 5% per year.

"For too long, national budgets have served the connected first, and the citizens second. This budget is not just a financial document. It tells us who and what the government truly values. Our 'Budget to the people' initiative is about shifting that power back to the people of South Africa," said Maimane.