Godongwana admits that critical frontline services have been eroded & Treasury must find ways to fund these
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana was addressing a joint meeting of Parliament’s four finance committees about the budget on Friday.
Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana and the finance department briefed the joint meeting with the Standing Committee on Appropriations, Select Committee on Finance and Standing Committee on Finance, Select Committee on Appropriations on the 2025 Budget Speech. Picture: Phando Jikelo/Parliament
JOHANNESBURG - Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has admitted that critical frontline services like health had been eroded and Treasury had to find ways to fund these.
Godongwana said that social services have been heavily impacted over the years, with accruals amounting to R21 billion in the health budget alone.
He said that issues like unemployed doctors also needed to be taken into consideration as Treasury tables the government’s funding and spending plans for the medium term.
Godongwana was addressing a joint meeting of Parliament’s four finance committees about the budget on Friday.
"We make the point, for instance, with respect to health, that just between March and December, we lost roughly about 9,000 professionals. And those professional positions could not be filled. We are going to another year where we should be employing more professionals. What this budget is attempting is to grapple with that question."