Treasury must target big departments to cut spending, says Godongwana

CAPE TOWN - Finance minister Enoch Godongwana says National Treasury has to target big departments if it wants to make meaningful cuts to spending.

This includes areas like social services, which the minister says must be closely monitored for waste and corruption to become more efficient.

On Thursday, Godongwana was addressing a Media24 post-budget breakfast discussion in Cape Town to interrogate the budget, which includes a 0.5 percentage point increase to value-added tax (VAT).

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Godongwana says one of the “fierce debates” before Thursday’s budget was whether National Treasury should choose between increasing VAT or doing away with the Social Relief of Distress grant, which was allocated R35.2 billion.

The minister says going for smaller departments might not be as effective, and the government has to target the biggest spending items.

“Where to cut? You go for the big votes where you’re likely to get money, Sports, Arts and Culture won’t give you much. Women and Children Department, even if they get R20 million, they get excited. So, you go for a big vote and in the final analysis you erode social services.”

However, he says the departments have to be properly funded first, before one can start looking at dealing with corruption and efficiency.