Cabinet says date to table Budget Speech is cast in stone

Government is confident that Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, will table the budget on the 12^th of March and there will be no change or further extension.

The tabling of the budget by Godongwana was postponed last week due to political differences on the proposed VAT increase.

This year’s budget proposed an increase of VAT from 15% to 17% to raise an additional R58 billion in revenue.

Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, addressed the media in Cape Town yesterday.

Ntshavheni says the date is cast in stone.

“The 12 of March is cast in stone. That’s what the minister has announced, and he has announced that with confirmation of the cabinet. Market sensitive information will remain market sensitive information. Yes, the budget is the budget of cabinet but the responsibility to table that budget is that of the Minister of Finance. As we have indicated, as cabinet we have engaged and there is a timeline that we need to comply with and we are going to be able to comply with it to conclude the budget process within the mandate of cabinet and allow the Minister of Finance to be responsible for the matters that relate to his responsibility.”

Furthermore, Cabinet and Treasury will have a special meeting on Monday to finalise the country’s budget.

Ntshavheni said Cabinet wants to collectively address the country’s fiscal environment.

Budget 2025 | Special meeting to finalise budget discussions on Monday: 

Load shedding 

Meanwhile, cabinet has acknowledged Eskom’s speedy response to its recent problems which led to the implementation of load shedding.

The power utility suspended load shedding on Wednesday after the recovery of its generation capacity and replenishment of emergency reserves.

On Sunday, Eskom had implemented Stage 6 power cuts across the country due to multiple unit trips at Camden power stations.

Cabinet says Eskom has informed government that it is now implementing its recovery plan to prevent further power outages.

“Cabinet acknowledges the swift response by Eskom’s technical team to recover the 4 800 megawatts with four and the five trip units at Majuba and two or four trip units returned at Kamtini by 20:00 of the 23^rd of February 2025. In implementing its recovery plan, Eskom anticipates a step down in the stages of load shedding. Efforts are focused on replenishing energy reserves particularly diesel stock to stabilise operations for the coming days. Despite the current setbacks, steady progress has been made in improving generation capacity and maintaining a reliable electricity supply.”

Eskom suspends load shedding: