finance minister enoch godongwanalatest news & developments
Holding the purse strings: Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana presented the 2026 Budget in Cape Town on Wednesday. Photo: GCIS

Budget 2026: Between reform and reality

South Africa has been given a narrow window to turn the ship around. Whether this Budget becomes a footnote or a foundation depends on what happens next — in Cabinet, in the SOEs, in municipalities and in the daily grind of governance

  • Eyaaz
7 min read
The expansion of social grants has been one of the most significant redistributive measures in democratic South Africa. Grants now support millions of children, older persons, and people with disabilities. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Social Grants get R292.8bn boost

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has confirmed increases to social grants, including old-age, disability and child support, supporting 26.5 million South Africans amid high unemployment.

  • Eyaaz
4 min read
Consumer inflation edged higher to April to 2.8% year-on-year from 2.7% in March, driven mainly by the housing and utilities as well as the alcoholic beverages and tobacco categories, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday.

April consumer inflation edges higher to 2.8% year-on-year

April’s slight uptick suggests that the Reserve Bank will keep the benchmark repo rate at 7.5% next week

  • Aarti Bhana
2 min read
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.

High court suspends VAT hike

The Democratic Alliance launched the application against the finance minister, the South African Revenue Service, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces.

  • Aarti Bhana
2 min read
In its budget review, the treasury flagged Transnet’s high debt levels, saying it needs to make faster progress on its plan to improve operations and finances

No bailouts for struggling parastatals such as Eskom, Transnet,  treasury insists

In its budget review, the treasury flagged Transnet’s high debt levels, saying it needs to make faster progress on its plan to improve operations and finances

  • Aarti Bhana
4 min read
Equal Education has criticised last week’s medium term budget policy statement for what it said was a failure to provide adequate funding to the education sector. (Madelene Cronje)

Equal Education says mid-term budget will entrench inequality

The advocacy group said despite highlighting infrastructure as one of its main pillars, the policy statement offered little in terms of commitments to fixing school infrastructure backlogs

  • Umamah Bakharia
3 min read