SCOPA chair Zibi says time to get budget process back on track
In his latest iteration of the budget, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has opted to lift a three-year freeze on increasing the fuel levy instead of raising the standard tax rate.
Chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Songezo Zibi, at a parliamentary briefing on the national budget. Picture: Parliament/Phando Jikelo
CAPE TOWN - Chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) Songezo Zibi says it’s time to get the budget process back on track after a value-added tax (VAT) debacle that has derailed two previous attempts to table a budget for the country.
In his latest iteration of the budget, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has opted to lift a three-year freeze on increasing the fuel levy instead of raising the standard tax rate.
Zibi said the budget debate has become about taxation rather than the realities of spending cuts to key departments such as health and education to fund the R2.5 trillion budget.
"The debate around the budget is supposed to be about the order of those priorities - and whether these allocations are sufficient, or to be spent in an efficient manner. We never got the chance to have that discussion. I hope that now there will be an opportunity to do so."
READ: Chairpersons of Parly’s finance committees appear confident Budget 3.0 will pass
He said spending reviews to eliminate wastage in departments have to be interrogated with earnestness and the budget process should not be limited to only a few months a year.
Rather, Zibi said it should be a year-round exercise to determine how government can spend money better.
"Ultimately, at the end of the day, MPs must get off X, get off the streets, get to committees and do the serious, boring work that doesn’t offer the TV time, the drama in the afternoon offers. That’s how we will serve the South African people."