FINANCE Minister Enoch Godongwana defended the Budget he tabled in Parliament earlier this week, saying part of the challenges the nation faced was the erosion and incapacity of social services to meet the needs of poor communities.

Speaking during the joint meeting with four parliamentary committees that deal with matters of finance and appropriations, Godongwana insisted that the Budget was addressing the needs of the people.

“We made the point, for instance, in respect to health, that just between March and December last year, we lost about 9 000 professionals.

“And those professional positions could not be free. We're going to another year where we should be employing new, more professionals. What this Budget is attempting is to grapple with that question.”

He noted that doctors had been marching, expressing a need to provide the much-needed service to communities.

“It's not about employment, it's about providing a service which is needed in our communities.”

Godongwana also said the health budget has been so eroded that the accruals amounted to R21 billion now.

“If all of us here... care about these poor communities whose services have been eroded, irrespective of where we stand on a number of things, we (need to) keep our eyes on the ball.

“How do we address that issue? It may well be from a different eye. We have not addressed it.”

The minister stated that while the debate on the Budget was raging, the issue was how to address the needs of people.

“We may have taken a route which, in these circumstances, qualifies me to defer.”

Godongwana said he did not think they disagreed on the substantive nature of what the National Treasury was attempting to resolve.

“We may be taking a wrong direction but you must understand where we are heading to. That's what we want members to appreciate,” he said.

Responding to questions, Godongwana said the vacancies in the Health Department will be funded.

“The answer is if the Budget is passed, the answer is yes. I'm not second-guessing Parliament.”

Godongwana took offence that the DA spokesperson on finance, Mark Burke, called him a rogue and had acted contrary to the National Treasury advice on the discarded 2% VAT increase.

He denied having not heeded the department’s advice, saying the team had stated that his proposal was good, but they were concerned whether it would get the green light from President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“It is wrong to refer to somebody like that. I think that's wrong. Let's have respect for each other,” Godongwana said referring to Burke calling him “rogue”.

He also dismissed an assertion by another DA MP that he had ignored a number of proposals from the DA.

“As of now, I don't have a proposal from the DA. All I do know is that they sent a letter to the president, not to me. I've never heard those proposals.”

However, Godongwana confirmed that there were other things the DA ministers raised in Cabinet, such as spending reviews and structural reforms he had included in his Budget Speech.

“We have included the spending reviews precisely because that's the request from the colleagues from the DA. We've included structural reforms and a detailed emphasis on structural reforms in the Speech to accommodate what they have been requesting. I have not ignored them.”

Godongwana said the push for the spending reviews will not yield the required results within a short space of time.

The state’s advisory and technical consulting services, Government Technical Advisory Centre, which has done 240 spending reviews in departments and state-owned enterprises, has stated that the government was paying 45% on the market price on rental stock.

“It's going to take time to deal with spending reviews. It's not going to be a three-month study. We urge colleagues to work with us and understand how government works.”

He also said the 0.5% VAT increase would be implemented in 2026/27 if there was no improvement in revenue collection.

“We have said in the Speech, the second 0.5%, assumes everything remains the same. Any changes in our revenue structure, we may drop that 0.5% in the next financial year.

“It's quite important that that message again is corrected.”

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za