The national budget allocates R1.8-billion for 262 priority land reform projects over the next three years, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced on Wednesday. A further R3.7-billion will go to emerging farmers seeking to acquire land.

In the fight against poverty and inequality, government has allocated R567-billion for social grant payments. In 2019, grants for old age, disability, war veterans and care dependency grants will increase by R80.

With State-owned entities (SOEs) posing very serious risks to the fiscal framework, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Wednesday said that National Treasury was “taking very serious steps to fix the fiscal position and SoEs”. With funding requests from South African Airways (SAA), the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), Denel, Eskom and other financially-challenged SoEs having [...]

Government has made a three-year allocation of R19.8-billion to support industrial business incentives, 48% of which goes to manufacturing development, the National Treasury announced on Wednesday. The medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) allocation includes a reprioritised amount of R600-million for the Clothing and Textile Competitiveness Programme, which aims to reposition South Africa to compete against other [...]

National Treasury will be reprioritising resources towards President Cyril Ramaphosa’s infrastructure fund and away from the wage bill, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said on Wednesday, with government committing R100-billion over the next decade towards the building and operation of key infrastructure assets. In several instances, the private sector will be responsible for the design, build [...]

Given an “unsustainable” wage bill, the National Treasury has shifted expenditure to investment, meaning that national and provincial compensation budgets will be reduced by R27-billion over the next three years. According to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, who delivered his maiden Budget speech on Wednesday, the first step to reducing the bill is to allow older [...]

In the fight against poverty and inequality, government has allocated R567-billion for social grant payments. In 2019, grants for old age, disability, war veterans and care dependency grants will increase by R80.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni used his inaugural Budget address on Wednesday to outline the “tough steps” required to fix South Africa’s deteriorating fiscal position and the country’s failing State-owned enterprises (SoEs). He told lawmakers there were “no quick fixes”, while confirming a R23-billion-a-year bail-out for Eskom over three years, which had been made conditional on [...]

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has turned down a proposal for R100-billion of Eskom’s debt to be transferred across to the National Treasury, but has instead announced R23-billion a year in financial assistance for the debt-laden utility that is directly tied to a restructuring of the business. Over a three-year period the assistance would amount to [...]

A consortium led by State-owned mining company African Exploration Mining and Finance Corporation (AEMFC) has been awarded the post-commencement funding (PCF) bid for Optimum Coal and its associated assets to the value of R1-billion.  PFC is finance granted to a company in business rescue and is meant to address the business rescue practitioner’s (BRP’s) remuneration, [...]

The Constitutional Court has ruled that municipalities are obliged to consider the possibilities that a new development could devalue nearby properties before approving building plans. The court said that when a proposed building is being considered, the decision-maker should check against whether the proposed property could disfigure the area, or reduce the value of the [...]

Digitalisation within the African energy sector is accelerating at a rapid rate, creating a demand for innovation and adaptation to new market technologies and the development of new skill sets within organisations, said Trade and Industry Policy Strategies executive director Saul Levin at Africa Energy Indaba, which was held on February 19 and 20.  By [...]