ID reacts to Manuel's mid-term budget statement

By Henry Booysen
31 October 2007

The Independent Democrats has expressed its concern over the large budget surplus, as announced in Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's mid-term budget, given that South Africa is facing huge economic problems.

“This reveals a fundamental weakness of government to effectively spend its money in delivering quality services to our people. What we need is a government that is able to spend its money as effectively as it collects it,” says ID spokesperson on Finance Lance Greyling.

Although the general reaction to Manuel’s speech is negative, the ID has welcomed the extra allocations to pensioners and grant recipients as they believe that grants should be in line with the cost of living.

They’ve also welcomed the R1.5bn increase to the National School Nutrition Programme but they believe that the programme should not be limited to primary school learners.

‘Hunger does not go away at 14 years,” Greyling elaborated.