Rooftop solar subsidies for businesses and households are a tick in the Budget announcements. President Cyril Ramaphosa in his State of the Nation Address , and reply earlier this month, twice said his finance minister would announce the details – come Budget – in what appeared to be the executive’s spin on seamless operations.
A rejigged bounceback scheme to allow small business favourable financing terms to shore up against the rolling blackouts? Pencil it in for Wednesday, given that Ramaphosa in his Sona speech said National Treasury was working on adjustments to the scheme first launched during the Covid-19 lockdowns. An extension of the monthly R350 social relief of distress grant, a definite tick as announced by Ramaphosa earlier in February – “[W]e will continue the social relief of distress grant…” – as part of the presidential comments on social protection. The rising cost-of-living crisis that’s bashing the vulnerable, who increasingly must decide between food or transport to work or school, but also workers and middle class families.
In late 2022, government decided not to pay the scheduled increase, and successfully argued its unaffordability in court. This now hangs over the 2023 negotiations, for which government is offering an average 4.7%, although the sliding scale provides greater increases for the lowest paid workers.