Thank you Deputy Speaker, Minister Mboweni told us that we need to at least R150 billion over the next three years. In a committee meeting shortly before the MTBPS, the Minister of Finance said that his personal preference for solving the wage bill crisis was for public servants to take a 10% pay cut across the board. This seems to be an awfully blunt and even an unfair way of trying to solve this crisis.
In contrast, the DA has crunched the numbers and found a way to save R168 billion over three years by reducing the number of millionaire managers in the public service by a third and freezing the wages of millionaire managers and other administrators while still granting inflation- linked increases for the true heroes of service delivery, like teachers, nurses and police officers.
My question to the Minister is whether he has studied the DA's proposal in detail and whether he thinks it is the best option currently on the table for solving this crisis? Thank you. [Applause.]