South Africa to amend Budget process after political wrangling
South Africa’s National Treasury plans to revamp its 2026 budget-preparation process after political wrangling saw this year’s proposal altered twice.
“South Africa’s current budget process has not kept pace with the country’s evolving fiscal, institutional, and political realities,” the Treasury said in a statement on Wednesday.
“A comprehensive budget reform will be implemented for the 2026 budget that aims to clarify trade-offs, reduce waste, and prioritise high-impact programmes.”
Its recent review of the budget process revealed “fragmented decision-making, poor policy-budget alignment, and weak consensus on trade-offs in a context of competing priorities and limited fiscal space,” the Treasury said.
Proposals to raise taxes saw this year’s budget revised twice after members of a 10-party ruling coalition, formed when the African National Congress lost a parliamentary majority in elections last year, opposed it.
The Democratic Alliance, the second-largest member in the grouping, called on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to rather look at ways to fire up the economy and review spending.
Lawmakers will today vote on the Appropriation Bill, a key piece of legislation required to advance the third version of the budget.
By law, the Treasury is authorised to prescribe the format for the annual budget. It will retain the fiscal objectives outlined in the 2025 plan, including stabilising debt, achieving a primary surplus, and increasing infrastructure investment into next year’s one, it said.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation