“So [Mboweni is saying] it is the poor who are responsible for the economic crisis‚ with their unreasonable demands for better service delivery‚ which is costing business so much of their profits to try to satisfy‚” Vavi said.
Vavi further added that the union wanted radical changes from Mboweni.
“His speech will give him the opportunity to reverse a succession of austerity budgets which are making an already horrendous situation for the majority of South Africans even worse.”
The former central bank governor was appointed as finance minister on October 9 following Nhlanhla Nene’s resignation over his meeting with the controversial Gupta family.
Mboweni is expected to deliver the budget speech against the backdrop of an economy which is currently in a technical recession.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said that there would be “no honeymoon” for Mboweni.