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

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.