Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana delivered his annual budget speech on Wednesday.
The National Treasury’s efforts to prioritise the repayment of South Africa’s national debt, by decreasing spending and increasing revenue, have paid off, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana told Parliament on Wednesday.
- The budget deficit – the difference between government revenue and spending – has narrowed, and debt-service costs are also falling. But in 2026, the government will still have to spend R432.4-billion on debt repayments and interest.
- Although the government will have to borrow money to fund the budget shortfall, the amount borrowed in 2026 will decrease to R380-billion, from R563-billion in 2025.
- The economy is expected to grow by 1.6% in 2026 (taking inflation into account), up from an estimated 1.4% in 2025. Inflation is expected to be around 3.4% this year.
- Thanks to higher-than-expected revenue in 2025, a plan to increase income taxes to collect an extra R20-billion has been scrapped. And for the first time since 2024, income tax brackets and rebates will be increased in line with inflation, which means people will not have to pay more tax if their salaries and wages increase by inflation.
- But excise duties on tobacco and alcohol go up in line with inflation. This means tax on a 20-pack of cigarettes rises from R22.81 to R23.58, and tax on a 340 millilitre can of beer or cider increases by 8c.
- Fuel levies also go up in line with inflation. For instance, the general fuel levy will go up by 9c a litre for petrol and 8c a litre for diesel.
- People will be encouraged to save more through an increase in the annual tax-free savings account contribution limit to R47,000 from R36,000. The limit to retirement fund deductions will also be raised from R350,000 to R430,000, allowing people to invest more in their retirement, on a tax-free basis.
- Small businesses will only be required to register for VAT when their turnover exceeds R2.3-million. Previously, the threshold was R1-million.
- About 60% of the government’s main budget of R1.95-trillion will be spent on what the government calls the “social wage”, which includes education, healthcare, and social grants.
- R26-billion will be allocated to the HIV/AIDS programme over the next three years, to prevent mother-to-child transmission and provide antiretroviral medicines.
Hundreds of people protested outside Parliament ahead of the budget speech.
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Loss of biodiversity: Decline in plant and animal species.
Troubadour
Fun South African Fact: The oldest remains of modern humans were found in South Africa and are well over 160,000 years old.
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A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”