ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba on Tuesday said that government’s response to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has thrown into sharp focus the fault lines in South Africa, calling on government to follow up promises with action.

He was addressing a virtual media briefing on South Africa’s economic recovery in the wake of the novel Covid-19 pandemic.

The already strained South African economy was dealt a great blow once restrictions were put in place in March, to curb the spread of the virus.

Mashaba argued that the current state of South Africa’s economy is a result of indecision, inaction and policy uncertainty caused by ideological factional battles within the tripartite alliance.

On the stimulus package announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year, Mashaba questioned why small businesses were closing and why many South Africans were losing their jobs.

“We are told about fighting corruption but we see how those in government are getting rich while the unemployed cannot access the Unemployment Insurance Fund and [are going] hungry. We are told about fiscal restraints, but we see billions being wasted on dysfunction while government is unable to keep the lights on,” he stated, saying the time for hollow words was over.

ActionSA’s fundamental task, he said, was to provide an alternative that rises above the “meagre” offering of the political system and gives South Africans hope.

He argued that government was failing to raise the tax revenue needed to build schools, roads, universities, infrastructure and provide adequate housing, because too many South Africans are unemployed.

“Our healthcare system is overburdened because too many are unable to afford private healthcare. Crime and drugs rip apart the fabric of our families and communities, because too many young people emerge from our schools with no prospect of viable economic opportunity,” he said.

As a solution to the strained economy, Mashaba called on government to cut bonds with State-owned entities like South African Airways (SAA), into which billions have already been sunk.

He proposed a reduction of the civil service wage bill – which has more than doubled from R340-billion in 2010 to R745-billion in 2019 – and called for an end to cadre deployment.

Mashaba further suggested reduced expenditure on luxuries and perks enjoyed by those in power, such as international travel and VIP security.

“We must be guided by the principle that if expenditure does not contribute to our most pressing economic and social needs, it must go. As a country, we celebrate the provision of social grants to 18-million South Africans, when we should weep that so many people have no other possible means of putting food on their tables,” he said.