Cape Town - Education continued to receive the lion's share of the country's budget with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday announcing an allocation of R165 billion to the Basic Education and Higher Education departments for the next financial year. This is up by more than R17 billion as compared to the previous year. A further R2.7 billion will be made available to the Department of Basic Education for the roll-out of workbooks in all 11 official languages to help raise … [Read more...]

Cape Town – A ministerial task team will help government save R6.5 billion this year and a total of R23 billion over the next three years, says Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. Announcing measures to cut down on tender fraud during his Budget Speech on Wednesday, Gordhan said the saving exercise being conducted by the task team must be seen as the "first step to get better value for money". "Too often, the culture in the public service and in state-owned enterprises is to ratchet up … [Read more...]

Cape Town – Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has in his Budget Speech announced a R55 billion allocation to widely cash-strapped municipalities in the next financial year. This figure will increase to R78 billion in 2012/2013. Delivering the R907 billion budget for 2010/2011 on Wednesday, Gordhan said municipalities will receive an additional R6.7 billion through the local government equitable share to help them cushion the poor households from the rising costs of electricity and … [Read more...]

Cape Town – Government is looking at ways to boost employment creation and economic growth as South Africa emerges from the global economic recession, says Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan. "The recent crisis and its aftermath have led to a serious introspection and rethinking of what were thought to be robust and superior economic models," Gordhan said, delivering his maiden Budget Speech in Parliament on Wednesday. He said all South Africans shared a commitment to expand job creation … [Read more...]