Taxpayers’ pain has its roots set in a history that the finance minister could not overcome
In this instalment of The Fiscal Cliff – a Mail & Guardian series on how South Africa’s budget has been shaped – Sarah Smit considers the intimate link between the country’s ultra-high unemployment rate and austerity
Makana’s budget, and those of most municipalities, need monitoring and the corrupt and wasteful held to account
The treasury has to ask itself what the true cost is of not funding our watchdog institutions
Today, as the country awaits the next update on the state of its public purse, the prospect of a debt crisis seems more imminent than before. This is as South Africa’s fiscal position has deteriorated markedly during the course of this year, a dilemma that could see the treasury inflicting another round of spending cuts.
The real issue is that the February 2023 budget was the least credible assessment of the country’s finances since 1994
In this monthly series, the M&G investigates how South Africa’s fiscal policy has been shaped. The second instalment considers the health budget and why, despite growing to R254 billion a year, the health system is ailing
The treasury continues to underfund health and education
The corporatisation of SOEs has disempowered the South African public and benefited corporate power and private finance
Among state-owned entities, the beleaguered power utility is far and away the biggest risk to the public purse