South Africa’s finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, announced in his October mid-term budget policy statement that cabinet had approved funding for an early retirement programme to reduce the public sector wage bill. In this article in The Conversation, Andrew Donaldson explains that past initiatives of this kind have done little to reduce costs. He also believes that there is a more fundamental problem with this proposal. He argues that in order to improve the structure of the state, and to narrow the gap between promise and delivery of public services, government functions and activities must be reviewed. He suggests that the state must cut back what is inessential or ineffective and that this will create room to expand core services and activities that promote growth and development. Read the article.
Andrew was also interviewed by Jeremy Maggs on Moneyweb@Midday about this topic. Listen to the interview.