POLITICS: Budget choices must empower the poor and end socio-economic exclusion
By Dr Khwezi Mabasa
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The recent debates about South Africa’s fiscal budget reveal that there is no consensus on how to define and implement inclusive growth. This phrase is prevalent throughout different strategic policy documents and stakeholders use it regularly.Yet political and policy contestations about budget policy choices, especially within the Government of National Unity (GNU), highlight some fundamental divergences. There are contrasting views on the most suitable fiscal policy instruments required to transform the country’s development path. The dominant market fundamentalist perspective proposes the following measures to attain inclusive growth: decreasing public sector wages, reducing state employee numbers, privat...