by Katlego Mtshali | Mar 13, 2025 | News
To meet persistent service delivery needs, the government has proposed a VAT increase of 1% over two years, raising the rate to 16% by 2026/27.
Finance Minister Enoch Gondongwana finally delivered the 2025 Budget speech on March 12, after a shock cancellation in February. The approval process will follow, with Parliament set to review, debate, and vote on the proposal.
While much of the public debate has focused on the proposed VAT increase, Gondongwana said “the central issue is fostering economic growth for the majority. Over the past decade, South Africa’s economy has stagnated, with GDP growth averaging under two percent”.
To achieve the country’s goals of redistribution and structural transformation, a faster, more inclusive economy is essential.
The 2025 budget outlines a strategy centered on “macroeconomic stability, structural reforms, infrastructure investment, and improving state capability to unlock the country’s productive capacity,” said Gondongwana.
With fiscal stability in focus, the budget also targets reducing debt-service costs and addressing critical issues like Eskom’s debt. Stabilising the economy, enhancing job creation, and advancing social services, are all at the top of the list.
Infrastructure remains a key focus in the 2025 Budget, with over R1 trillion allocated to capital spending over the next three years. Key areas of investment include R402 billion for transport, R219.2 billion for energy, and R156.3 billion for water and sanitation.
Projects such as upgrading roads, rebuilding the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s infrastructure, and expanding water systems are central to driving economic growth, creating jobs, and improving public services. Public-private partnerships and innovative financing, including an infrastructure bond and credit guarantee vehicle, will further support these efforts.
Godongwana said the VAT increase could help meet persistent service delivery needs. It is expected to generate R28 billion in 2025/26 and R14.5 billion in 2026/27. After weighing alternatives like increasing corporate or personal income taxes, the VAT increase was deemed the most viable option to avoid further spending cuts and ensure essential services continue.
To cushion households from rising living costs, the government will increase social grants above inflation, expand the VAT zero-rated food basket, and keep the fuel levy unchanged, saving consumers R4 billion.
In social security, R284.7 billion is allocated to grants, with increases for the elderly, disabled, and child support. The COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant will continue until March 2026, with 28 million beneficiaries set to benefit.
The South African Revenue Service (SARS) receives R3.5 billion this year and an additional R4 billion for improved tax collection. Efforts to broaden the tax base and improve compliance will help fund essential government services.
For early childhood development and education, the government allocates R10 billion to increase subsidies and expand access to early education for 700,000 more children. This investment supports the foundation for a better future workforce.
In addition to these measures, funding is set aside for critical health and security services, including a R28.9 billion boost to healthcare to retain workers and ensure adequate staffing in hospitals.
But none of these measures can be implemented without a majority vote in favour, so all eyes will be on parliamentarians for what happens next.
FEATURED IMAGE: The cost of living: South African Rands may not stretch as far if proposed VAT increase takes effect. Photo: Adobe Stock
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by Tshego Mokgabudi | Feb 24, 2019 | Opinion
The annual budget speech is an opportunity for the government to evaluate the financial wellbeing of the nation and to outline how the nation’s purse will be used in the new year. The event is a time to step back, to take stock and to reflect on past shortcomings and future plans.
The budget speech is similar to what most of us do at the beginning of each year. With our New Year’s resolutions, we evaluate our year and consider how much of our time and effort we will allocate to improving or changing certain aspects of ourselves.
We do an audit of ourselves, measuring how far we’ve come from the previous year and how far we still have to go to reach our aspirations.
It is in this way we keep ourselves accountable to ourselves. We measure our successes, subtract our failures, multiply our joys and divide our sorrows.
This time last year I had just completed my undergraduate degree and undertaking a new challenge, my honours in journalism. I had come out of a relationship, lost a number of friends and was still recovering from the hangover of a hectic December.
As the year went on I had my trials and tribulations. I lost a dear friend, struggled academically, drowned my sorrows in alcohol and found myself on sprints of depression and anxiety.
I had my successes too. I made new friends, learned new skills and overcame so many of the obstacles that stood in my way..
One of the ways I kept myself level-headed during an intense period in my life was through regular reflection on my past, present and future.
I thought about which moments had brought me to where I am today and where I hoped to be in the near future. And I quickly realised, I had to do some budgeting.
One of the things I evaluated was my time: how it was spent and how I could use it to improve myself. In my opinion, time management is the sort of skill that can only reap rewards.
When considering how I could spend my time more productively, I realised just how much of it went to waste on sleeping, lazing around and procrastinating.
Sometimes it only makes sense to change so that’s exactly what I did. One of the things I worked on was learning to use my time for things that benefitted my wellbeing and studies, and prioritising those activities over less fruitful ones.
Managing my finances was equally important. Reflecting on how my money was spent last year, I thought about what I had to show for it and whether it had brought me closer to where I wanted to be in my life.
Truthfully, it was quite embarrassing to compare the amount of new clothes I had and how far I still was from reaching a sense of contentment.
That’s why in my budget for this year I’m hoping to manage my finances better by saving before I spend and not letting myself get pressured into spending more than I have to.
Lastly, mental health is one of those aspects in life we should always put under the microscope every so often. Varsity gets overwhelming at times and it’s too easy to slide into bouts of depression and loneliness.
One’s mental health is key to how the experience of varsity shapes you. Doing an audit of oneself is a healthy way to maintain stability and productivity, which is the goal at the end of the day.
There’s a reason the Budget Speech is public, declared in front of hundreds of straight-faced parliamentarians who scrutinise every single aspect of it. This is for accountability and transparency.
Like the government, we should be accountable for our decisions and transparent with our goals. We should surround ourselves with people who will scrutinise our successes and pick us up after our failures.
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by Anlerie de Wet | Mar 13, 2015 | Sport
FOOTBALL THRIVING: Lethu Nhlumayo doing drills with Wits U/19 men’s football team on Tuesday afternoon.
Wits Sport are keeping their new strategic budget allocations a secret.
The strategy has been implemented with the start of this year, where Wits Sport has cut-off funding for all but five sport clubs (rugby, football, basketball, hockey and cricket). This has forced other sport and recreational clubs to financially fend for themselves or die out.
The amount of money and its utilisation within these five clubs are “highly confidential”, according to Head of Wits Sport, Adrian Carter.
Carter’s reason for making the budget information privileged is to keep other universities or competitors from finding out “how Wits plans to climb to the top of University Sport.”
“We have needed to come up with a commercial plan to bring in funds on a sustainable basis as, quite frankly, the funds we currently receive are not sufficient for us to compete at any level, never mind Varsity Sport- hence the change in strategy,” said Carter.
Allegedly clubs were told that if they perform better than one of the top five clubs they will get funding back.
“It is a vicious circle. If we don’t get money, then we won’t attract good players and we won’t get recognition,” said third year Medicine student and member of the Wits women’s water polo team, Catherine Bezuidenhout.
Bezuidenhout said they understand that the university can’t cover every club completely, “but we need some sort of assistance.”
Fellow team mate and fourth year Medicine student, Jeanie du Toit, explained that many of her team mates already have student loans and that they can’t afford to pay for kits, transport and accommodation on their own- let alone pay for their coach.
She added that given their academic challenges the new budget decree would now demand they use their own time to fund raise; “We are all studying. Now we must give up time not only to train and work hard to bring attention to our sport, but to raise funds too.”
by Ilanit Chernick | Mar 6, 2015 | News
SRC DISPUTE: Project W’s Jamie Mighti claims the SRC budget is being mismanaged. Photo: Nqobile Dludla
Project W alleged this week that the SRC budget is being mismanaged by the Progressive Youth Alliance (PYA). Both SRC deputy-president Shaeera Kalla and head of the Student Development and Leadership Unit (SDLU), Lamese Abrahams denied this.
Project W’s Jamie Mighti told Wits Vuvuzela there has been “no transparency” with the SRC budget allocation. According to two previous SRC treasurers, the SRC budget is supposed to be allocated and submitted to SDLU by the last week of February.
“The SRC have not even met yet to discuss it,” Jamie said. He claimed that PYA SRC members had already allocated budgets for their own portfolios during “PYA internal caucuses’”.
“They are deliberately excluding Project W SRC members,” he said, “We have been asking for three weeks now to have a meeting about the portfolio budgets but every time we schedule several SRC members deliberately don’t show up.”
Mighti also said the budget is mostly funded by student fees “so they have the right to objectivity and to see how it is being used which is not what is happening here”.
Deputy president of the SRC Shaeera Kalla said the only reason the SRC hasn’t met yet “is because we have all been busy with the One Million One Month campaign”.
“It’s just a matter of sitting down and working things out,” she said.
“There is no mismanagement of the budget. The only event it has been used for is O-Week.”
Mighti also put forward a claim that the annual vacation stipends given to SRC members were not allocated properly and the process was “corrupt”.
He said that some members of the SRC had given themselves R10 000 whereas others had received zero.
Abrahams said these claims were “inaccurate” and that there had only been “one appeal” about the SRC stipend issue “which has been dealt with accordingly”.
“This is not true. SDLU has complete oversight over both the budget and stipends,” she said, “It is checked all the time, twice or even three times over.”
“There is no action plan here. We are stuck and if the budget issue isn’t dealt with, we will have to take it to the dean or the VC,” Mighti said.
