Pravin Gordhan 2010 Budget cartoon

Pravin Gordhan 2010 Budget

Pravin Gordhan’s 2010 South Africa Budget Speech

South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivered his first budget speech yesterday. It is no wonder that the man who turned the South African Revenue Services (SARS) around commanded significantly more praise than the lack-lustre efforts of President Jacob Zuma in his State of the Nation address a week ago.

Mr Gordhan’s focus is clearly on establishing credible monetary policy and reducing unemployment. While it could quite easily be argued that the economic stability during Trevor Manuel’s tenure is more a result of pure luck than of any amazing policy decisions, Mr Gordhan will not be so fortunate. He is taking the helm at a time of real economic crisis both locally and internationally. Solid, educated decisions will need to be made to mitigate the impacts on all South Africans and Mr Gordhan has given every indication that he is the man to do just that.

Education was accurately reflected through the budget as being a top priority for government. Total spend in the area has increased to R165Bn out of a total of R906Bn (just over 18% of the budget).

The focus on job creation also came through with a number of initiatives being tabled for encouraging employers to take on youth, particularly those without significant work experience.

South African consumers are likely to feel the pinch with increased sin tax (on the likes of cigarettes, alcohol and potentially gambling). Anti-smoking activist groups were complaining that the increase in cigarette taxes were not enough – in Europe, almost 80% of the cost of a pack of smokes is tax. Consumers will also not be happy with the sizeable increase in fuel tax (25.5c per litre from 7 April 2010).

All in all though, the budget is structured to benefit the lower income groups. Wonkie believes there is still plenty more room to tax the new South African rich class that have benefited from Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programmes. Given BEE in its current form is largely an additional tax on South African society, the government would just be taking back some income which was rightfully theirs in the first place. Wonkie would certainly feel more comfortable with Mr Gordhan redistributing the wealth to those groups in South Africa that really need it.

For those of you who are interested, you can find the full text of the 2010 Budget speech here.

Click HERE to leave your COMMENT on Pravin Gordhan’s 2010 Budget

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Alexander Forbes


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Comments

  1. BEE and Affirmative Action are racist policies. These policies should be abolished!

  2. There has never been a shortage of money….it’s always been a case of never gettting the money spent at the right time on the right things with the right results by the right people…….there should be much better accountabilty demanded and expected with severe repercussions for any taxups…. We now have another wasted badly uneducated generation who will again need to go cap in hand for the rest of their lives because of the latest educational “trial” and resultant fiasco……..

  3. Good speech. Shows that he is a Zuma product. Viva. This Hellen Zille must be sent to stay with Robert Mugabe to learn a lesson or two about how to respond to the Ruling Elite

  4. Nkutu William Moalosi says

    Wonkie, we must appreciate your positive & critical comments on the maiden budget speech of the Minister of Finance, Mr. Pravin Gordhan, including the different allocations. I beg to differ on your suggestion that: “…believes there is still plenty more room to tax the new South African rich class that have benefited from Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programmes.” The BEE should be taxed just like any other business people. Why should they be taxed differently. This is not a racist policy, but the correction of the past.

  5. hey i wonder if theirisgoing to be a charge beside going down than ever before

  6. Having used PC’s since the days of Black and Green screens and 286 processors,
    I am rather familiar with them as well as various types of software.
    IOW, I have a reasonably workable computer knowledge.
    Yet, most I have spoken to don’t really like the SARS efiling system.
    Some say it is very confusing, especially those who have to complete
    their returns twice a year.

    Moreover, after being told that a refund is due, you have to go on line to claim it.
    When we, (well, in my case) do go on line, you cannot call up the file again.
    Seems as if I lost what is due to me.
    Most email messages never get answered.
    Many that are never receive attention.
    Perhaps they caught the BCM suk-u-dry virus.

  7. Ol Pliny….sorry you’re having hassles with the system……I love it….I had a few times in the beginning learning where and how to retrieve documents – but it’s all ok now…..and the staff at the Randburg branch are really surprisingly helpful with any queries or problems….surprising for a govt dept that is….if you are due a refund it gets done automatically – mine do – either straight to my bank account or collecting at the Post office after receiving notification. They even took note of a suggestion I made and altered the site…..keep trying – it’s better than sitting in a seat waiting to be helped.

  8. Well done, Mr Gordhan. At least the ANC has one high performance Minister to help keep the country afloat. The other dim bulbs (Trevor excluded) are too ‘dof’ to even realise how far they fall short.

  9. Ntombifuthi says

    i feel that having a car now falls under sin tax according to Pravins budget whereas we use these to go to work and pay tax

  10. “To each his own..” goes a song composed by The Platters.
    ” If the hat fits, wear it.” is the fair advice in one maxim.

    For my hat, I just don’t like the order in which the Dispatch places reader’s comments.
    When going on line to Wonkie comments, one is taken to lastest comment on a subject.
    With this method, one has to page right to the bottom to get to the area where
    new comment may be entered. IE: Below the first contribution

    It’s rather confusing to try and follow a thread while paging down the entries.
    In some cases, one gets to read a few responses to comments before reading
    the origional thread. Which often means paging back again to read responses.
    (if you have not lost interest by then)

    The sites I prefer best when researching something, are those which append the
    latest contribution at the end of the list. Now, that’s only my opinion.

  11. Universities Fees are gradually increasing. Even this NSFAS does not meet our needs. Gov must take actions, we(Africans) suffer alot in this so call public universities

  12. For how long will BEE and Affirmative Action be implemented? The ANC have been in power for sixteen years. Children matriculating at present have enjoyed ANC education. Why should certain children have preference? Are they not able to compete? It is time the playing-field is levelled! Then the best will come to the fore to build this country. Otherwise, we can descend to the level of Zimbabwe.

  13. Moxie….how on earth can you think that the poor black kids who “enjoyed” ANC education had any thing special……that paltry experiment at education was the biggest joke yet…..they are more uneducated than ever before and are another wasted generation….they are again reduced to being the menial workers taking anything ‘casual’ they can beg for.

  14. Micheyp
    Have you ever heard of irony? Remember the children were used as pawns in the “struggle” and today they do not have the education promised to them. Only the elite have benefited. Even BEE contracts have not filtered down to grass roots. Was this what they wanted?

  15. Moxie…….Of course I have heard of it and if that’s what you meant then apologies….it wasn’t very clear………But you’re dead right on all the rest !

  16. The budget was balanced and it had all the ingridients of success. All the things required had been covered and those who sayotherwise are not realistic in thinking. If the budget can cover every body it will not be for national but personal. Keep it real Mr. Minister

  17. Increasing the amount of money for grants is a good idea but how will they be able to see that the kids are infact going to school. Another thing how will they be able to provide 800 000 jobs while employers’ will only hire poeple who have experience of about 4 years when im only fresh out of varsity????

  18. walter
    I refuse to call the ruling party “elite”.. rather soemthing like “steal-it”

    Nkutu William Moalosi,

    There is nothing in the past that needs to be corrected..that’s a lot of english-bull…how come there were so many black millionaires from the apartheid era?
    Clearly african people believe that a man-is a man- is a man- is a man- is a man etc. and can’t understand that business people will create jobs and folls will trun anything into a circus..think about eskom, the SAA, the SABC. you name it, it’s falling apart because africa believe a man is a man- is a man- is a man and everybody are just TRYING (I hate it to always hear how these fools are forever “trying”) their best….I call “trying” and gambling one and the same thing.

    milkshake,
    with kids comming out of varsity that can’t read or write, can you blame companies for not hiring somebody that did not have 4 years to show he can read and write? ( Wow, just think about this..acording to african views, you are now qualified to lecture all the subjects you just passed 😉 )

  19. the budget speech was good

  20. I feel the budget was more to the point this year, and more focused on education and jobs, which is not a bad thing. Does anyone know where I can find the comments from political leaders on the budget?

  21. lets hope they will be a different on the pass rate this year ( which i doubt) since more money will be heading towards the path of education

  22. Ol' Pliny says

    Dirkie, you say things as many see it, and also have empathy with your bitterness. Quote:
    “Africa is ruled by the way the bones fall” Mostly true. You could have added:
    “And ruled by ancestors sleeping in death.”

    Quote:
    “Sangoma…will give you some medicine to ensure you get away
    with it.” (corruption) You could have added:
    “And human body parts to make you invisible, bullet proof and
    absolved in court.” (Just look at their ads n the newspapers)

    While with a cop in the Gonubie squatter camp, searching for some of my stolen
    property. I asked him, “Why don’t the ANC pay headmen to educate the masses
    on the benefits of honesty and the uselessness of some of their beliefs.”

    He said, “No man! The people here don’t want that kind of thing.”
    Red nou ‘n nasie met sulke mense.
    (Heal a nation with such people)

  23. ja da budget is gud,more especially in the edu side,thanx 2 mr p

  24. if only we can find somebody with a dictective eye to further look into the NSFAS programme. not only do i smell something fishy but i also spy with my dectective eye corruption within the NSFAS offices.

  25. cyriburk van wyk says

    A good budget. Thank you for considering education as a priority.

  26. Siya Alex Manyamalala says

    Ja da budget is gud, but we dont have jobs as we graduate of this country why?

  27. marzedt de beer says

    Dear Minister in order to make South Africans more financially responsibel I suggest that we need to re-introduce savings certificates for children (preprimary, primary and high school levels) as a means to create a saving culture

  28. i am quite satisfied with the ministers budget proposal.i feel the levy on petrol and diesel is quite high.come april and we all would have to dig deeper due to the high petrol/diesel prices in our country.

  29. It is all very well that we have a good budget. It’s the clowns that handle our tax rands with little or no accurate record keeping that’s gets my goat.
    Millions are blown on trivia.
    Consequenses! What for?
    ANC stands for ABSOLUTELY NO CONSCIENCE

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