Latest news with #R20.8b
The Citizen
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Budget 3.0: VAT hike scrapped, fuel levy rises
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana yesterday tabled the long-delayed 2025 revised budget, successfully bridging a R75b revenue shortfall without the politically unpopular proposal to increase VAT. Instead, he turned to alternative revenue sources — raising fuel levies and allocating billions to enhance tax collection — to meet the country's infrastructure and social spending needs while stabilising government debt. The Witness reports that to recover the anticipated revenue, the revised budget introduces increases to fuel levies and scraps earlier plans to expand the list of zero-rated food items. 'It means from June 4 this year, the general fuel levy will increase by 16 cents per litre for petrol, and by 15 cents per litre for diesel,' Godongwana said. Additional revenue will also be generated through SARS's improved collection systems. 'We have allocated an additional R7.5b over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework to increase the effectiveness of the SARS in collecting more revenue. 'Part of this allocation will be used to increase collections from debts owed to the fiscus. 'SARS has indicated that this could raise between R20b and R50b in additional revenue per year,' Godongwana said. The R6.6t budget tabled yesterday maintains its focus on social and infrastructure investment, allocating R1t for public infrastructure and R1t to education — in part to hire more teachers. Health has been allocated R845b. 'This budget will be increased by R20.8b over three years to employ 800 post-community service doctors, cover essential goods and services, and reduce accruals,' he said. The old-age grant was raised by R120 to R2 310 a month, with a further R10 increase set for October. The R370 monthly grant for unemployed people has been extended until March, but will undergo review. Government is actively exploring various options to better integrate this grant with employment opportunities. 'This includes considering a job-seeker allowance and other measures, as part of the review of Active Labour Market Programmes. Our goal is to not only provide immediate relief,' he said. Godongwana delivered the budget against the backdrop of growing concern over government debt, now at R5.6t. While he said debt levels were being stabilised, he acknowledged the rising cost of servicing debt. 'Debt service costs remain high, amounting to more than R1.3t over the next three years. 'Put differently, this means in 2025/26 alone we are spending around R1.2b per day to service our debt. 'We must maintain our efforts to reverse this trend …,' he said. Breaking news at your fingertips… Follow Caxton Network News on Facebook and join our WhatsApp channel. Nuus wat saakmaak. Volg Caxton Netwerk-nuus op Facebook en sluit aan by ons WhatsApp-kanaal. Read original story on At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
IOL News
22-05-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Godongwana injects much-needed boost for frontline healthcare services in public hospitals
Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, tabled the 2025 Budget Speech during the National Assembly plenary at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Image: Phando Jikelo/ Parliament of SA THE plight of healthcare workers in public hospitals, as highlighted in a letter by a University of Cape Town medical student, was one of the reasons Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's budget maintains the spending trajectory presented in the main budget on 12 March. Over the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) period, the provincial health sector budget will total R845 billion. An additional R20.8b will be allocated over three years to employ 800 post-community service doctors, procure essential goods and services, and reduce accruals that have hindered service delivery. The increase would also help the sector deal with personnel budget pressures that have been growing steadily across provinces, said Godongwana. The Department of Health's total expenditure is expected to rise to R275.5b in 2025/26, R288.5b in 2026/27, and R301.7b in 2027/28. This marks a gradual but consistent increase aimed at restoring both infrastructure and human capacity in the public health system. The overall increase to the health function's baseline is R7b or 0.85%, from R858.8b in the 2024 MTEF to R865.8b in the 2025 MTEF. The bulk of the increase, R4.6 billion, will go to the provincial equitable share to support implementation of the 2025 public sector wage agreement. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ This will ease the salary pressures that have led to understaffing, particularly in rural and high-pressure facilities. In her letter to Godongwana Sarah Stein, a medical student at UCT, detailed the dire conditions healthcare workers face in public hospitals. 'Working in a public hospital with way too few resources punches you in the gut every day. It's not just the trauma of seeing your patient die, it's having no gloves in a delivery room; no alcohol swabs to clean wounds; and knowing that nurses stop at the shop on their way to work to buy their own gloves and masks because the clinic has run out. "Where waiting times for a scan are months long, and surgery delays needlessly let disease progress to the point of being inoperable. It's the limited beds in high care mean that doctors are regularly forced to decide whose life is worth saving because there's only space for one,' Stein wrote. Godongwana said addressing the persistent spending pressures to restore critical frontline services and invest in infrastructure was critical for improving access to basic services and lifting economic prospects. On the future of National Health Insurance (NHI) funding, Godongwana allocated R858m to the NHI indirect grant in 2025/26 and R259 million in 2026/27. Cape Times
IOL News
21-05-2025
- Health
- IOL News
Budget: Healthcare crisis in South Africa, Godongwana makes a commitment to frontline services
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana used his Budget address on Wednesday to commit to improve healthcare in the country. Image: GCIS Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has reaffirmed the government's commitment to restoring critical frontline health services and investing in infrastructure to improve access to basic healthcare, following a powerful plea from a University of Cape Town medical student. Delivering his budget on Wednesday, Godongwana revealed that earlier this month, he received a letter from Sarah Stein, a medical student at UCT, detailing the dire conditions healthcare workers face in public hospitals. Her first-hand account moved the minister and helped reinforce the urgency behind the increased health budget allocations. 'Working in public hospital with way too few resources punches you in the gut every day. It's not just the trauma of seeing your patient die, it's having no gloves in a delivery room; no alcohol swabs to clean wounds; and knowing that nurses stop at the shop on their way to work to buy their own gloves and masks because the clinic has run out. "Where waiting times for a scan are months long, and surgery delays needlessly let disease progress to the point of being inoperable. It's the limited beds in high care that mean doctors are regularly forced to decide whose life is worth saving more because there's only space for one,' Stein wrote. Godongwana said her account was one of the reasons why the budget maintains the spending trajectory presented in the main budget on 12 March. 'Addressing the persistent spending pressures to restore critical frontline services and invest in infrastructure is critical for improving access to basic services and lifting economic prospects,' the minister said. Over the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) period, the provincial health sector budget will total R845 billion. An additional R20.8b will be allocated over three years to employ 800 post-community service doctors, procure essential goods and services, and reduce accruals that have hindered service delivery. Godongwana said this increase would also help the sector deal with personnel budget pressures that have been growing steadily across provinces. The Department of Health's total expenditure is expected to rise to R275.5b in 2025/26, R288.5b in 2026/27, and R301.7b in 2027/28. This marks a gradual but consistent increase aimed at restoring both infrastructure and human capacity in the public health system. The overall increase to the health function's baseline is R7b or 0.85%, from R858.8b in the 2024 MTEF to R865.8b in the 2025 MTEF. The bulk of the increase, R4.6 billion, will go to the provincial equitable share to support implementation of the 2025 public sector wage agreement. This will ease the salary pressures that have led to understaffing, particularly in rural and high-pressure facilities. Godongwana also outlined the future of National Health Insurance (NHI) funding, with R858m allocated to the NHI indirect grant in 2025/26 and R259 million in 2026/27. While the amounts remain modest compared to the scale of the NHI rollout, they represent continued state backing of the controversial universal healthcare project. The Finance Minister said stories like Stein's highlight the real-world impact of funding decisions and the urgency of getting resources to the frontline. [email protected] Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana pledges to improve healthcare. Image: GCIS
