THE WINNERS AND LOSERS
Bulk of reallocated funds goes to higher education
The biggest winner in this year’s budget was higher education, which scored R16bn of a total R21bn that was made available for reallocation over the next three years. The biggest losers are government agencies – such as the South African Revenue Services (SARS) and South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) – which face "large reductions" in their operating budgets. Apart from debt service costs – which now consume 13c of each tax rand and is the fastest-growing item on the budget – higher education grew the most of any spending category, up 9.2% over the medium term. The funds for reallocation, says the Budget Review, came from the contingency reserve (R9bn), which exists exactly for this purpose; the National Skills Fund (R4,9bn); rescinded money from the provinces (R11,4bn); and lower-than-anticipated expenditure on social grants due to fewer beneficiaries than expected (R2,7bn).
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