Finance minister Enoch Godongwana will present the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement to Parliament on Wednesday, with opposition parties calling for urgent action on fuel prices, unemployment and government wasteful expenditure.
The minister faces mounting pressure to provide relief to households battered by soaring fuel costs driven by the Middle East war. Petrol prices have jumped more than 25% this year, while diesel has rocketed by 50%, pushing inflation higher and squeezing workers already struggling with a 43.8% unemployment rate.
ActionSA has called on Godongwana to slash the fuel levy immediately, arguing that strong tax collection figures create room for relief. The party says the South African Revenue Service collected R2.010 trillion in 2025/26, which was R24.7 billion above earlier estimates and 8.4% higher than the previous year.
“Escalating fuel prices are feeding into transport, food and other essential costs,” ActionSA said in a statement earlier this month. The party also wants the budget to tackle the estimated R800 billion tax gap through better enforcement rather than imposing new taxes on households.
The Democratic Alliance has drawn a firm line against any tax hikes, calling for inflation-linked adjustments to tax brackets instead. According to the DA, debt service costs now eat up 22 cents of every rand government collects, crowding out spending on health, education and policing.
The DA wants Godongwana to deliver on promises that the debt-to-GDP ratio will start falling, while also stopping the flow of guarantees to struggling state-owned enterprises like Transnet, which received R145.8 billion in fresh debt guarantees last year.
The Freedom Front Plus is likely to push for concrete infrastructure spending, particularly on water and transport projects. The party has warned that optimistic economic forecasts could be derailed by the Middle East conflict’s impact on fuel and fertiliser prices.
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COSATU, representing millions of workers, has called for bold action including releasing R10 billion from the Central Energy Fund to cut fuel prices, recruiting 10 000 permanent labour inspectors, and ramping up job creation programmes for the 12 million unemployed.
The trade union federation also wants government to fill critical vacancies for doctors, nurses, teachers and police officers, while overhauling dysfunctional municipalities drowning in R120 billion debt to Eskom and R370 billion owed by ratepayers.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) are calling for the immediate implementation of a R1 500 Basic Income Grant for the unemployed and poor, funded through an austerity reversal, financial transaction taxes, and aggressive curbing of illicit financial flows.
Economists expect Godongwana to revise down the February budget’s 1.6% growth forecast and warn that households should not expect major tax relief despite higher revenue from precious metals exports.
