On Saturday & Sunday the President & the #ANC made a clear commitment to extend & improve the #SRDGrant & introduce a #BasicIncomeGrant
What exactly did they say?A🧵
The #ANC2019ManifestoReview states that the SRD will be extended & improved, & form the basis for a Universal BIG Speaking at a consultation with the press & academics on Saturday President @CyrilRamaphosa stated the following:
The extension of the SRD Grant to address poverty has 'exploded us onto a new policy trajectory' & has 'laid the basis for the introduction of a Basic Income Grant'.

Reflections on the #JoburgFire tragedy.
There is so much anger in society at government incompetence, dishonest& corrupt politicians, joblessness, poverty, & urban decay...that people have been quick to apportion blame to all sorts of actors, including those least responsible.A🧵 We need to accept that a no. of things can be true at the same time:
*Criminal neglect at every level of government is responsible for people's loss of lives
*The City of Joburg has dismally failed to maintain its buildings
*Nothing stops govt from enforcing health & safety laws

BREAKING
It pains me to have to tweet this thread on Youth Day. I have reliable information that despite government undertakings that SRDGrant payments will be paid this week, back payment of April & May Grants will not occur this month😡:
👉April/May payments will only start in

https://twitter.com/NeilColemanSA/status/1536274372054458370

July
👉June payments will at best start next week
👉The only payments being made this week are outstanding payments from August- Nov 2021.
This means over 8 million poor S Africans will have waited for up to 4 months to receive April grants; & over 10 million applicants up to 3

The @IEJ_SA today releases a seminal policy brief- Designing a Basic Income Guarantee- that has been 3 months in development. It reviews international literature on universal vs targeted grants, & draws key lessons for the design of a #UBIG for S Africa.
iej.org.za/designing-a-ba… Key findings include:
•How a BIG is designed is as important as its adoption.
•A key flaw of targeting a specific vulnerable group:it doesn't reach them in practice...due to administrative burdens, unwarranted exclusions, stigmatisation,& changes in eligibility of recipients.

I have been overwhelmed with responses to my tweet👇of DSD Minister announcing governments intention to implement a #BasicIncomeGrant. Leaving aside the usual attacks by trolls, serious concerns raised can be boiled down to 8 issues. I deal with these as best I can below. Thread:

https://twitter.com/NeilColemanSA/status/1282690323370717184

1. *Why is it only proposed to benefit those from 18-59*? The reason is that there are extensive grants for children and pensioners, & the big gap is the poor & unemployed from 18-59. If the grant for this group is universal (not means-tested), then it will be a BIG

As we head towards the #budget @TitoMboweni announced the government intends to introduce #ZeroBasedBudgeting (ZBB)- the notion that budgets are justified from scratch- to radically cutback on spending. What does this mean?
A thread: When the RDP was introduced in 1994, the notion of #ZBB (while not mentioned in the RDP doc.) was used at the time to convey the idea that apartheid budgets couldn’t serve as the baseline, but that new budgets needed to be constructed by the democratic state.

Ive been asked to comment on why @UKLabour was defeated in the #UKelection2019 & so many working class people voted for right wing #Tories. Outsider humility dictates caution in responding, but I have collated some articles containing incisive analyses.They suggest some answers👇 @OwenJones84 argues #Labours loss was combination of mishandling of #Brexit & Corbyns leadership, but that the policies were right.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

Some people have asked for our comment on the #Treasury #EconomicStrategy document
There are two major issues: process and content.
I deal with these in turn.Note: these are not the official views of the @IEJ_SA 👇 Firstly on *process*
National Treasury has gone rogue...again
They have unilaterally published a policy document without engaging
👉government structures
👉ANC structures or
👉civil society (unless you count financial sector economists present at their colloquia).

Is the #NationalMinimumWage which comes into effect on 1 January a victory or a defeat for workers? I try to answer this question in the thread below
@Cosatu @Zwelinzima1 @CyrilRamaphosa @GiladIsaacs @iValodia @Dennis_G1 @SAFTU_media How many workers will benefit from the #NMW? According to research by @SA_NMW around *4 million workers* are earning <R20 p/h. This is a significant no. - over one third of the formal workforce. The widely quoted figure of 6,4 million isn't accurate, & reflects 2016 estimates.

A widespread perception around #MTBPS2018 today is that there are too many public servants, who're paid too much, & that we can only afford to expand services/investment if these costs are cut back. But check this 👇 thread, & see whether this is in fact correct @Zwelinzima1 Despite having to extend services to a large population historically excluded from many services, the numbers employed by government (local provincial & national) compared to the numbers employed under apartheid has not significantly increased as a share of total employment.

As we go into tomorrows budget policy statement, it is useful to reflect on a #UN report which warns against the dangers of #austerity in South Africa.
A thread on the #MTBPS:

#UN report👇
tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treat…

@SECTION27news @Zwelinzima1 @GiladIsaacs @social_rights Following its first review of SA, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has called on the government to review its fiscal policies in order for the country to meet its human rights obligations and achieve greater levels of economic redistribution.