Since it was published, the 2021 Budget has been called out as unconstitutional and austere from many corners. More than 200 social movements, civil society organisations, trade unions and individuals, in an open letter to members of Parliament, have endorsed a call for MPs to reject the Budget and send it back to the drawing board. The current Budget will cut public spending by R265-billion over the next three years in areas which directly affect human rights.
The signatories of the open letter represent 1.5 million people, according to Section27, one of the signatories.
The letter urges the members of Parliament to use their constitutional powers to send the Budget back to the executive. They should demand that it protects human rights and finds an alternative way of managing public debt, the letter states.
The sixth World NGO Day will be commemorated on Saturday, 27 February in more than 89 countries. An NGO is non-profit and is run by citizens outside of any government structure. There are an estimated 10 million NGOs in the world, employing about 50 million people. The number of NGOs is expected to double in the next decade.
The rest of the week…
On
Wednesday, 24 February, the digitalisation of South Africa’s social grant payments system will come under the spotlight. The Digital Welfare State and Human Rights Project will interview Lynette Maart, the director of Black Sash, on how it came to be that the country became dependent on just one company for the payment of grants. Listen in at 10am here.
Activists turn their attention to the digital economy on World Day of Social Justice, marked on 20 February. The United Nations declared this day in 2007 to recognise that social justice is essential to attain peace and security and cannot be achieved without respect for human rights.
This year’s theme a call for social justice in the digital economy acknowledges that the pandemic has deepened the digital divide. It urges the urgent protection of labour and human rights in this new world of work and learning.
The rest of the week…
Monday, 15 February marks International Childhood Cancer Day this is especially relevant to South Africa, which has one of the highest childhood cancer mortality rates in the world. Two thirds of affected children never receive specialised treatment.