Editorial: Ramaphosa needs to back Mboweni

The week of the budget presentation has ended with a new stand-off between government and trade unions.

This is mainly over moves announced by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to cut the wage bill by R160 billion over the next three years.

What further angered the trade unions was Mboweni’s announcement that government would be unable to uphold a three-year wage agreement with labour because of a lack of funds.

This has drawn the ire of the union leaders, who have threatened to resist this move and “go to war”.

Although President Cyril Ramaphosa preaches financial prudence and the need to make tough choices, he has left the actual implementation of these unpopular decisions to Mboweni.

Ramaphosa himself has not stood up to back Mboweni after he came under criticism.

This has emboldened trade union leaders, particularly those at the helm of labour federation Cosatu, to create the impression that Ramaphosa’s ministers are on a wayward, rogue mission that contradicts what the president stands for.

This patently false impression is being left to fester, allowing for one of Ramaphosa’s Cabinet ministers to be singled out in a similar way that Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan was left to take the heat on issues relating to the running of state-owned enterprises.

Government budgets are always a reflection of government priorities rather than the whim of any one individual.

It is therefore incumbent on the rest of the Cabinet, led by Ramaphosa, to either defend this budget or tell South Africans why they are keeping their distance.

For many years now, since the ousting of former president Thabo Mbeki in 2008, the ANC government has buckled each time it faced resistance from trade unions, as it is in alliance with Cosatu.

Read: Cosatu wants those implicated in the Zondo commission to be charged now

It is no wonder that at least one rating agency, Moody’s Investors Service, has expressed scepticism that government will stand its ground and implement its contentious plans.

There is a history to this, and it is one of capitulation and appeasement.

South Africa will be watching again to see if Ramaphosa will sheepishly play the role of a neutral mediator between government and unions or back his finance minister, and his own budget.

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