DA slams EFF and ANC for choosing a failing airline over a ‘Xmas bonus’ for state pensioners

In a speech in parliament on Wednesday, DA MP David Maynier expressed his shock at the fact that the ANC and EFF had turned down a proposal to give pensioners a bit more money at the end of the year, apparently preferring instead to spend the money on a poorly managed and unprofitable airline.

The DA had called for an amendment to the Adjustments Appropriation Bill to “support senior citizens, improve road maintenance and improve rail transport”.

Maynier said that an increase of R1.2 billion for the department of social development would have provided recipients of so-called old-age grants with a R355 end-of-year “top up”, something he said many in society desperately needed.

“We did so following a submission to the finance committee from a forum of women pensioners.”

He quoted them as saying: “With our pensions we must cover the usual expenses plus the extra expenses of school uniforms, shoes, stationery and extra food because our grandchildren are on holiday and they are always hungry.”

He said the extra money could have come from R1.2 billion apparently already earmarked for the bailout of SA Express Airways.

“The fact is that South African Express Airways could be shut down almost immediately, opening space for private-sector operators who do not cost taxpayers billions of rands in bailouts.

“We trust that the minister [of finance, Tito Mboweni], who strongly supports shutting down South African Airways, will also strongly support shutting down South African Express Airways.”

However, Maynier said that after nearly three hours of deliberations at an appropriations committee meeting, ANC and EFF members had voted against the proposal for a R355 end-of-year “top-up” for pensioners.

“Shockingly, they turned a deaf ear to the pensioners … which was easy for them to do because most members of the governing party who serve on the appropriations committee are pensioners. But they are receiving a pension equivalent to the salary of a full-time member of parliament.”

He concluded that “when it came to a choice between supporting pensioners who are struggling to make ends meet and bailing out a zombie state-owned airline, both the ANC and the EFF chose to bail out the zombie state-owned airline”.

Other reactions to the story have included expressions of disbelief that the EFF, which promised to double social grants in its election campaign, failed to back what was essentially a Christmas bonus for the poor and vulnerable in South Africa.

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.