Budget 3.0 slashes funding for health and education

South Africans will feel the impact of the latest version of Budget 2025 at public hospitals, clinics and schools, at the fuel pumps and when queuing in long lines at an unreformed Home Affairs

- By Neesa Moodley

A rocky road lies ahead for social grant recipients who will see no increase in the amounts they receive over the next two years. This is just one of several changes the Treasury revealed on Wednesday, 21 May, in the third iteration of Budget 2025.

Those working in the public sector who are hoping to take advantage of the early retirement programme will have to act quickly. The R11-billion allocation over the medium term has been slashed to R5.5-billion, which means the potential 11,000 employees who could have benefited has been halved to 5,500.

Treasury director-general Duncan Pieterse said part of the reason for halving the allocation was that a process was under way with the bargaining council for this financial year. The previously projected savings of about R7-billion would also be reduced to about R3.5-billion.

Slight increase of the fuel levy

Consumers will take a hit with a 4% (inflationary) increase in the fuel levy that will see petrol go up by 16 cents a litre, while diesel increases by 15c a litre, effective from 4 June this year.

In other words, Treasury is clawing back the R4-billion relief that would have resulted from the fuel levy not being increased. However, this is the first fuel levy increase since 2021.