Budget Speech 2026Targeted and Responsible Savings |
Madam Speaker, in the Budget last May we promised that spending priorities would not be funded through tax increases if this could be avoided.
We have kept that promise, through our commitment to finding savings from unproductive expenditure, closing leakages, and rooting out inefficiencies.
I am happy to announce that R12 billion in savings have been identified over the medium term.
Targeted and responsible savings are not a once-off initiative.
They will be an ongoing and entrenched part of the budget process going forward to weed out inefficiencies and low-performing programmes.
Every programme and every allocation must demonstrate value, efficiency and accountability.
As part of this process, the Public Transport Network Grant has been scaled down, by about R8.4 billion, over the next three years.
The grant has not improved access to public transport relative to the investments made.
The grant will, however, continue to help cover indirect costs in cities that run bus services.
Enhanced targeting of social grants authentication of beneficiaries to reduce fraud in the grant system will yield R3 billion of savings.
The South African Social Security Agency has upgraded its biometric and income verification processes, resulting in nearly 35 000 grants being identified as incorrect or fraudulent, and therefore terminated.
Honourable Members, we are committed to improving access for the many South Africans deserving and eligible for social support.
Abuse of the system will not be tolerated.
The remaining savings from TARS are reallocated to strengthen capacity in the judiciary, border management, defence and Stats SA.
Madam Speaker, to secure the skills essential to a modern economy, government is reforming the national skills ecosystem.
The skills development levy paid by employers to fund Sector Education and Training Authorities, or SETAs, and the National Skills Fund, have not yielded the outcomes we expected.
We must improve how we equip individuals ready to enter the labour market.
Beyond providing them a theoretical understanding, the government will explore ways to reorganise training by introducing a dual-training skills acquisition system.
We are also looking at how institutions with the capacity to train job-seekers and graduates can tool them with artisanal skills.