Relief for taxpayers will come through above-inflation increases in all tax brackets and will be welcome news, although excise duties on alcohol and tobacco go up along with a 25 cent a litre increase in fuel levies.

Shortfalls in revenue collection mean Finance Minister Tito Mboweni will have to announce cuts in government spending but he must also tread cautiously so as not to affect service delivery.

On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to the debate on his State of the Nation Address (Sona) delivered last week.

The ANC MP snuck in an official apology via social media in the early hours of Friday morning.

During the State of the Nation Address debate on Wednesday, Boy Mamabolo accused Julius Malema of physically abusing his wife.

This afternoon President Cyril Ramaphosa will be the only person to speak in Parliament when he gets the chance to reply to the compliments and criticism his State of the Nation Address has provoked.

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, who was once Malema’s deputy when he was still leader of the ANC Youth League, took aim when he wrapped up the second and final day of debate on the President’s State of the Nation Address (Sona).

He’s told Parliament that he’s finalised ministerial determinations in terms of Section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act and that these are now with energy regulator, the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (Nersa).

Accusing President Ramaphosa of turning his promise of a new dawn into 'new despair', DA interim leader John Steenhuisen blamed him for failing to make the needed reforms to free up the economy, win back investors and create jobs.

EFF leader Julius Malema left the House with fellow EFF members after he failed to withdraw his accusation that President Cyril Ramaphosa had assaulted his late former wife and was ordered out of the House.

Speaking during the debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Sona, Steenhuisen accused the president of putting his party first, instead of South Africans.

Julius Malema was in full flight when he agreed to answer a question from ANC MP Boy Mamabolo.

The virus, which emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year, has so far infected more than 73,000 people in China and 25 other countries and caused nearly 2,000 fatalities so far.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said more details on these plans and steps to fix the country’s precarious public finances would be announced by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni when he delivered his Budget Speech in two weeks’ time.

In an unprecedented move, National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise was forced to briefly suspend proceedings after the EFF raised multiple points of order, each time the president started to speak.

‘Every time it occurs [load shedding], it disrupts people’s lives, causing frustration, inconvenience, hardship.’

President Cyril Ramaphosa focused much of his State of the Nation Address on youth unemployment, saying it was the biggest problem the country faced.

The president defended his consensus-building approach, saying that forging compacts were no sign of weakness but rather, the building blocks to deal with the country’s social and economic woes.