Budget 2024: Social wage bill to rise again, says Godongwana

JOHANNESBURG - The social wage bill will increase again as poorer South Africans try to put food on the table.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed to Parliament that social grants were expected to take up the lion’s share of the government’s expenditure this year.

As the country approaches the 29 May general elections, this year’s budget has been described as the governing African National Congress’s (ANC) teaser to woo voters to the polls.

If we look at the government’s balance sheet for the upcoming year, expenditure is expected to sit at a whooping R2.37 trillion.

From this additional funds are expected to be allocated to health, education, peace, and security as well as social development.

This is mainly to provide for the carry-through costs of the 2023/24 wage increase and the extension of the R350 grant.

Godongwana said the following changes would also be seen in the social protection expenditure.

The old age grant, war veterans grant, disability grant and care dependency grant will all increase by R90 in April and another R10 in October.

The foster care grant will increase by R50 in April, and the child support grant will be topped up by R20.

“We are sensitive to the increase in the cost of living for the nearly 19 million South Africans who rely on these grants to make ends meet.”

National Treasury will also allocate R7 billion to the Presidential Employment Initiative as unemployment roes to 32.1% in the last quarter of 2023.