Fin24 reports that the 2025 Budget, which was not tabled in Parliament this week, had allocated R11 billion over the next two years for the early retirement of civil servants.
The early retirement offer is part of government’s efforts to reduce its ballooning wage bill, with Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana adding in his planned but undelivered budget speech that the intention was also to "attract younger employees into the public service". Godongwana’s intended speech indicated: "Preliminary savings are expected to average R7.8 billion per year over the medium to long term. The savings will be retained by departments." The defunct Budget Review document provided more detail, including that up to 30,000 civil servants were expected to opt for early retirement, and that employees would not face any penalties. "The plan is to manage headcounts by incentivising employees over 55 years old to retire and moderate compensation spending as younger employees join the public service at entry level salary grades," the review explained. The tabling of the budget was postponed to 12 March following disagreement in the Cabinet over a proposal to hike VAT by two percentage points.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ahmed Areff at Fin24 (subscription or trial registration required)
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