TimesLIVE Premium reports that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is sticking to the public service wage agreement that will see government employees earning an inflation-beating pay hike of 5.5% in 2025/26 and inflation-linked increases in the following two years.

This is despite a reduction in the proposed hike in VAT that that will see the SA Revenue Service collecting less tax revenue than Godongwana had projected in his original budget that was postponed last month. The 0.5 percentage point VAT hike he announced in parliament on Wednesday will only raise government coffers by an additional R28bn in the 2025/2026 financial year. A VAT hike of the same amount will be imposed the following year. However, the budget documents that Godongwana tabled in parliament show that the 5.5% public service wage hike remains a sealed deal, to be implemented over the next three years at a cost of R23bn. The document reads: “Although the agreement exceeds the 2024 budget and MTBPS projections, its three-year duration reduces uncertainty in budget planning. In terms of the 2025 public-service wage agreement, remuneration of government employees will rise by 5.5% in 2025/26, 1 percentage point above projected consumer price index [CPI] inflation. Over the subsequent two years, remuneration of employees will align with CPI.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thabo Mokone at TimesLIVE Premium (subscriber access only)
• Lees ook, Begroting 2025: Miljarde weer vir salarisverhogings begroot, by Maroela Media

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