EXTRACT
It's grim. The government borrows up to R20-billion a month to pay for schools, hospitals, welfare and, since former president Jacob Zuma doubled the public service, salaries as well. It is a formidable task and the bond sell-off means the National Treasury has to offer increasingly higher interest rates to attract buyers. Earlier this year it calculated our interest payments alone at R214-billion a year by 2020-21. That is more than R850-million every working day.