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Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's first Budget speech is a "declaration of war" against public servants, the Public Servants Association has said.
The PSA, a union with a membership of over 230 000, said in a statement on Wednesday evening that they took issue with the minister's "various methods" of reducing the public service wage bill over the next three years, labelling it "war" against "loyal public servants by an untrustworthy employer".
Mboweni aims to reduce the wage bill by some R37bn through early retirements and natural attrition. No additional funds have been allocated for salaries.
There would be no pay hikes for Members of Parliament, provincial legislatures or the executives of public entities either, he added.
"Minister Tito Mboweni announced during his speech that the first step in this process will be to 'allow older public servants who want to do so, to retire early and gracefully'...
"The Minister also announced that these actions will, in time, be complemented by limits on overtime, bonus payments and pay progression. The Minister further referred to 'unjustified staffing' at diplomatic missions that should be reviewed urgently," the PSA said.
"From these statements, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Public Service have clearly declared war on public servants. Whilst plans for early retirements were previously denied publicly, it is clear that the employer cannot be trusted."
The minister "failed dismally to acknowledge the real reasons for the country's economic crisis", the statement added, saying there had been no arrests or efforts to "recoup money from his comrades who have been implicated in corruption".
"Instead, public servants must ‘gracefully’ pay the price for this by sacrificing on agreed terms and conditions of employment,” said PSA General Manager, Ivan Fredericks.
