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The Minister of Finance has published the Budget Review which was announced on the 23rd February 2022 in the annual Budget Speech. The announcements include economic and taxation policy that the South African government will implement in the face of the economic performance of the country.  

The National Treasury acknowledges that South Africa must put in place interventions that support inclusive growth, support livelihoods, and extend income and employment support to the most vulnerable. The National treasury also recommended that the country needs to address growth constraints, economic recovery and improve collections and revenue performance in the economy. 

The Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) has noted the economic outlook and fiscal issues which will result in the projected 2.1% percent growth in 2022 and 1.8% over the next three years. The Commission for Gender Equality has noted the various economic recovery plans to transform the economy and the profound structural issues which have led to deep-rooted socio-economic challenges. 

Statistics South Africa’s 3rd quarter labour force survey reported women constitute the largest unemployed group at 51%, higher than the national average of 46.6%. Unemployment levels are closely linked to poverty and inequality which are concentrated amongst women and the youth, this is concentrated in Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Northwest and Northern Cape at over 50% unemployment levels. Women continue to face persistent marginalisation in the economy with a lower labour absorption rate of 50%, 12% lower than the male labour absorption.  This can be attributed to a range of factors including the influences of South Africa’s colonial history and dominant patriarchal paradigms. 

The Minister announced that the estimated tax revenue in the financial period for 2021/22 is an estimated R1.55 trillion. The CGE has undertaken various investigations and made policy recommendations to address the advancement of local procurement and the prioritization of these targeted procurement reforms in departmental budgets to meet the 40% procurement allocation to women owned business. 

The CGE supports the need to address the structural constraints that would improve the lives of those excluded economically. The CGE also believes the procurement bill and preferential procurement policies are an instrument for growth, and these will further drive new SMMEs inclusion into the mainstream economy, and the targeted 40% allocation to women will be a key enabler to widening the entry of women in the economy. This commitment however must be realised in the public procurement to business owned by women which the CGE will continue to monitor. The CGE will continue to monitor the allocation of the public purse to women owned enterprises through procurement allocations and monitor the commitments that both the President and recent fiscal framework Minister of Finance is implementing. 

Spousal abuse by intimate partners, molestation of children, intimate partner killings, sexual violence statistics show the majority of South African women have been violated in one way or the other.  The Commission is disappointed that there was no mention of ring-fenced funds for addressing the systemic response to gender based violence. Whilst there is an additional allocation of R8.7 billion to the police budget and resourcing of the justice system and courts with an increased R1.1 billion it has not been ring fenced for addressing the access to justice for victims of GBV.

In 2020, The President in the 2020 State of the Nation address announced a ring-fenced amount of R1.6 billion to address the fight against GBV and implement the emergency response plan. In this budget there was no mention of a ring-fenced amount that will address a national pandemic that requires urgent resourcing for the implementation of reforms and the national strategic plan on GBVF.  

CGE has noted the additional R24.6 billion to our provincial education departments targeted to teachers, R15.6 billion to support department health in bridging service delivery shortfalls and a further R3.3 billion to support medical practitioners such as community service doctors, medical interns. 

The CGE encourages the implementation of gender responsive budgeting to prioritise gender policy issues when allocating resources to the national budget. The allocation of resources to women and children to address injustice and inequality will be responded to if we respond to the distribution of resources through gender responsive budgeting and initiatives. The CGE calls for gender oriented performance indicators and data collection to in the MTEF targets and Departmental planning and expenditure allocations.

The Commission will continue to support any structure in our society that has a deep interest in ensuring that gender discrimination, women empowerment, and career progression of women and the marginalised in the budget is addressed.  

Issued by Commission for Gender Equality