Parliament, the Budget and Poverty in South Africa. A Shift in Power: A Shift in Power

Foreword

FOREWORD I n April 2009, President Kgalema Motlanthe, the third president of democratic South Africa, signed a bill into law allowing Parliament to amend the national budget. This was the culmination of a campaign by unions, civil society organisations and political parties to create budget amendment powers for Parliament, a campaign that began at the birth of the democratic dispensation. For this reason, Parliament, the Budget and Poverty in South Africa: A Shift in Power is a timely book. It originated in a multi-stakeholder symposium convened by Idasa in 2008 to reflect on key elements of what has now become the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act (No 9 of 2009). The book provides a further assessment of the Act and identifies some of what is required if its provisions are to improve the quality and impact of the budget. The editors have, however, a more important goal than helping to ensure an efficient and effective budget. This publication emerges from a particular context – South Africa’s widespread, intractable poverty, exacerbated by islands of plenty. Democracies which have many poor people may survive institutionally, but those afflicted by great inequality and relative deprivation face special challenges. And the question must be asked: how valuable is a constitutional democracy which cannot improve the quality of life of its citizens and enable them to prosper and participate fully in the economic and political life that is under construction? The question is particularly relevant where adequate resources do seem to exist, as in South Africa. South Africa has not had an explicit, publicly negotiated poverty reduction strategy . Instead, it has relied on the medium-term expenditure framework and government programmes of action to structure interventions, foster debate and secure social ownership of state initiatives. To date, public participation has been fairly weak and tensions have regularly surfaced over aspects of the budget, including its macroeconomic stance and the effective spending of allocations. As the country’s fourth presidency gets under way and the fourth Parliament convenes , there is an opportunity to re-establish the primacy of citizen agency in public finances. The new amendment powers clearly give non-governmental stakeholders a positive incentive to engage with the budget. But having these powers is not the same as exercising them wisely and in favour of the poor. In the realm of budgeting, we may have arrived at a new moment in South Africa ’s democratic journey. This publication reminds us of where we have come from and sketches a map that can be used in navigating the immediate future. As always, underlying these pressing, sometimes technical issues is the need for South Africans to further the promise that we make every time we celebrate the Constitution: to “improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person”. Paul Graham, Executive Director: Idasa September 2009 ...