My articles share my insights. Sometimes it is about policy and at other times about entrepreneurship.
Category South African Fiscal Policy
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Talking MTBPS 2020
I enjoyed chatting about the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement 2020 with Nwabisa Nontenja from YFM. I gave my insights on the history of the South African budget process and proposes an alternative approach that prioritises and protects government spending on…
Can you hear the pandemic in MTBPS 2020?
‘We listen to everyone; only hear a few’ Minister Mboweni deviated from his Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS 2020) speech to voice these words. Andile and Tumi wondered if they were even heard. Andile and Tumi were once upwardly …
Using open contracting to connect the dots
We are a nation of dot connectors, yet some dot connections are more equal than others. The Public Procurement Bill (PDF) released by the National Treasury should connect the dots from the State Capture Commission and use this experience to propel a…
A Budget Imaginary to tackle Very Real Inequality
Can public expenditure be egalitarian? This question is all but absent in discussions on Budget 2019 . It is the so-called efficiency question that dominates. The efficiency question seeks legitimate answers in the ratios of debt, expenditure and revenue to…
Minister Nene’s Budget 2015 Exposes South Africa’s Poor Economic Policymaking Agenda
Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, in his inaugural budget speech, offers this piece of wisdom, “The challenge of governance is to choose wisely between competing alternatives.” This takeaway statement is as true of Minister Nene’s inaugural budget speech, as it is…
Nene’s Medium Term Budget Fails to Get Balance Right between Fiscal and Social Responsibility
How do we measure the performance of the South African budget? The message from Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene’s inaugural Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement suggests dual objectives. Minister Nene has cut the expenditure ceiling and capped spending on items such as…
Budget 2014: ‘The Disconnect between Plans and Budgets’
Common sense suggests that budgets follow plans, not the other way around. Beyond the headline results of the budget, a closer look at the finance minister’s 2014 budget reveals significant contradictions and suggests a disconnect concerning the relationship between plans…
A Budget for a New Era of Engagement
Debates on the national budget have been called “noisy.” Budget 2011 has been particularly noisy, as the sheer number of voices responding to the budget has increased, as has the complexity of the arguments being made. This is a healthy…
Medium Term Budget Policy Statement: Building Up to Bold Decisions, But Time Is Not on the Side of the Poor
The Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) occurs in a deepening economic crisis; expressed most notably by the loss of over 1 million jobs in the last year. The prognosis going forward is dire, with government estimates on reaching our…