▶️ The post Stop Budget Cuts: Defend our basic services! appeared first on AIDC | Alternative Information & Development Centre.
On Wednesday, 30th October 2024, a coalition of trade unions, social movements, and progressive movements will march together in unity against government budget cuts. The action is heightened by signs of further budget cuts, reduced social spending, and increased economic strain on working-class families.
For too long, our communities have borne the brunt of decisions made by those in power who don’t have to live with the consequences. We need a budget that invests in people, not one that sacrifices the well-being of the many to appease the few.
Here are our demands:
- Fully fund public services: Restore full funding to education, health, safety, and other social sectors to guarantee equitable access for all communities.
- End budget cuts: Reverse planned cuts to education and healthcare, including the elimination of 2407 teaching posts in the Western Cape and the 5% reduction in health funding nationally.
- Stop land dispossession: Redistribute land to reverse the harms of colonialism and apartheid. Unlock key land sites for social housing; end forced evictions and spatial apartheid.
- Address unemployment: Launch large-scale job creation programs, invest in public works, and support industries that can create sustainable employment, particularly for the youth.
- Basic Income Grant: Implement a Universal Basic Income Grant to combat hunger and malnutrition, provide financial security and reduce poverty in South Africa’s most vulnerable populations.
- Prioritise gender-sensitive approaches in fiscal policies: End austerity policies that disproportionately affect women and exacerbate the conditions that lead to GBV.
- Amplify crime prevention programs: Provide more resources for safety, security, and rehabilitation, including emergency response, policing, and efficient prosecutions.
- Reject privatisation: Stop the privatisation of essential services and ensure public services remain fully funded and accessible.
Assembly Point: Hanover Street (next to CPUT)
9:00 AM
For more information, contact:
Thembeka Majali on 072 038 0085
Abeedah Adams on 072 028 3551
