The ANC chief whip denies the health law is an election ploy as court challenges loom and the DA dismisses it as a ‘populist lever’ This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free Account The Mail & Guardian is committed to providing all our readers with the best possible experience. Please register your free account now. Your registration is your first step to becoming an M&G community member. Register Registration enables: – M&G newsletters access – notifications – the best possible experience Already registered? Login here Want to subscribe and get even more benefits? Explore our subscription offers

Taxpayers’ pain has its roots set in a history that the finance minister could not overcome

The 2024 budget is Duncan Pieterse’s first as director general. And he says the fiscal framework does not constitute a negotiating position

Additional funds have been allocated to pay teachers, doctors, nurses and police officers but productivity is not always commensurate with salaries

A proposed R6.9 billion is to be allocated over the next three years to prepare for the rollout of the system across the country

The incentive is aimed at encouraging investments in local production

The budget points to state-owned entity bailouts as a key driver of South Africa’s increasingly constrained fiscal position

The term’s of its extension beyond 2025 have yet to be agreed on, but the treasury has made provisional allocations for the grant

The South African Revenue Service has turned to salaried workers and professionals to buoy revenue collection but is also targeting multinationals posting profits abroad

The decision follows pressure from civil society and labour — as well as warnings that the treasury risks leaving the Reserve Bank in a precarious position

Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, will present the 2024 Budget Speech at the Cape Town City Hall

The country’s jobs data comes the day before the tabling of what looks to be another tightly managed budget

The budget is expected to lay out plans to raise R15bn in revenue, amid a commodity-induced slump This content is restricted to registered users and subscribers. Get Your Free Account The Mail & Guardian is committed to providing all our readers with the best possible experience. Please register your free account now. Your registration is your first step to becoming an M&G community member. Register Registration enables: – M&G newsletters access – notifications – the best possible experience Already registered? Login here Want to subscribe and get even more benefits? Explore our subscription offers

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