Budget Speech 2024

Madam Speaker, R2.8 trillion, or 51.1 per cent, of total non-interest expenditures, is allocated to provinces and municipalities over the next three years.

R531.7 billion is allocated to local governments, and R2.3 trillion for provinces.

An additional R105.5 billion rand is allocated to provinces over the next three years to cover the cost of implementing the 2023 public-service wage agreement, mainly in the education and health sectors.

The provision of these additional funds will cushion the wage bill pressures faced by these critical, personnel intensive departments, while freeing up of resources for capital investment and goods and services.

Moreover, reductions that were previously made on some grants have been reversed. Restoring the baselines of these grants will help maintain important services for the most vulnerable and provide for critical capital investments.

However, to ensure public finances remain sustainable, reductions are made to several other grant baselines, although many continue to grow over the next three years despite the reductions.

Regarding municipalities, an additional R1.4 billion is provided for the municipal disaster recovery grant to fund the repair and reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by the tragic floods of 2023.

Madam Speaker, municipalities are the coalface of service delivery. Sadly, an unacceptable number of them are experiencing weaknesses in governance, financial management, and service delivery.

To address these challenges, and to transform municipalities into engines of growth, we have adopted a multi-pronged approach.

It focusses on tightening budget processes, ramping up oversight, increasing the skills and capacity of municipal employees, and driving investment in maintaining and building infrastructure.