New finance minister already ruffling feathers with income grant comments

Barely a week after his appointment, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is embroiled in a bitter spat with civil society organisations, while trade unionists have fired a broadside at their erstwhile union comrade now pushing a neoliberal agenda.

The fight began on a rather unexpected issue, the basic income grant (BIG), which the minister rejected as promoting the “dependency” of black persons.

Godongwana told the Sunday Times that his view of the issue differed to that of “white liberals who thought that every kid or black person must be kept in perpetual dependency through grants” and that the BIG did not address the fundamental issues of youth unemployment.

While the minister was opposed to the grant, President Cyril Ramaphosa appeared to be amenable to it and Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu had been talking about introducing the grant to replace the R350 unemployment grant issued in response to the pandemic.

Initially, the grant was not an official ANC policy until the pandemic broke out and many poor people lost their jobs. In fact, the BIG was a policy that for many years had been advocated by the opposition Democratic Alliance while the ANC was opposed to it.

Godongwana’s comments touched a raw nerve in civil society which, together with the trade union movement, had been advocating for the introduction of basic income grant to meet the needs of the unemployed working-class poor.

Irate civil society guru and codirector of the Institute for Economic Justice Neil Coleman fired the first salvo against Godongwana, saying his comments were “outrageous”.

He said he had avoided commenting on Godongwana’s appointment and his concern about the minister’s track record, but the comments on grant demanded a response. Both were in Cosatu at about the same time – Godongwana was general secretary of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and Coleman was the federation’s economist.

Coleman was believed to have been the brain behind Cosatu’s radical economic stance for decades before he left to join civil society.

Approached for comment yesterday, Godongwana said: “I don’t have time for Neil Coleman. I have work to do.”

The spat between Coleman and Godongwana prompted an intervention by former public protector and professor at
Stellenbosch University Thuli Madonsela who said: “As civil society we need to meet with the minister of finance as soon as possible on #BIG #section27 to avoid misunderstanding that comes with media, particularly social media, communication.

“I know him to be a reasonable person ready to engage rationally without name calling,” Madonsela said to Coleman on Twitter.

In return Coleman said: “I agree Thuli, a meeting is necessary but it must take place on the basis of mutual respect, and due regard for the seriousness of the issues that organisations are putting on the table.”

Also weighing in on the issue was economist Duma Gqubule, who responded to Coleman on Twitter, saying: “I agree, the comments were outrageous.”

Also responding to Coleman, former Food and Allied Workers Union general secretary Katishi Masemola hit out at Godongwana and his predecessor, Tito Mboweni, at the same time.

“Practically anti-poor in their classist outlook and elitist content and potentially racist in their anchor and display these
ministers comments are.

“We’re likely to see deflectionist stances riding on the back of ‘plausible’ yet dishonest “sustainable/meaningful speak.”

While Cosatu and the South African Federation of Trade Unions are yet to make statements, they are most likely to side with the poor and oppose their former union comrade, Godongwana.

– ericn@citizen.co.za