The Select Committee on Appropriations has concluded the processing of the 2026 Appropriation Bill by engaging by means of a public hearing with a range of stakeholders on South Africa’s spending priorities and fiscal challenges.
While the Appropriation Bill primarily deals with national government spending, the committee pays attention to how budget allocations affect provinces and municipalities. During the public hearing, discussions focused on whether public funds are being used effectively, the impact of transfers to provincial and local government, and whether these allocations are improving service delivery for communities.
The Appropriation Bill gives the legal approval for the government to take money from the National Revenue Fund and allocate to government departments and public institutions. It also sets the conditions they must follow when using certain funds. The hearings provided the committee with an opportunity to assess the broader impact of the budget on development, poverty reduction and service delivery.
Several organisations used the hearings to raise concerns about the growing pressures facing vulnerable communities. The committee received written submissions from the following organisations: Breadline Africa, the Women on Farms Projects, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the Institute of Race Relations Legal, the Healthy Leaving Alliance, the Budget Justice Coalition, and the Pan-African Institute for Fiscal and Policy Studies.
The Women on Farms Project highlighted the impact of rising fuel prices, food inflation and the increasing cost of living on rural households, particularly women farm workers. The organisation called for the Child Support Grant to be increased to the food poverty line and urged government to strengthen support measures for poor and vulnerable communities. Ms Nicolene Mcgee, a seasonal farmer and member of the Women on Farms Project, told the committee about her experiences. “Everything is more expensive than before, so our seasonal workers are really struggling. The ticket to town prices coming up, school transport, we pay more.”
Breadline Africa warned of the continued underperformance of early childhood development (ECD) infrastructure programmes, despite increased funding over several years. Many projects have failed to spend their allocated budgets effectively, pointing to weaknesses in implementation at provincial level.
The Pan-African Institute for Fiscal and Policy Studies, represented by Professor Dumisani Jantjies, argued that the economic assumptions used when drafting the 2026 Budget no longer reflect current realities. The institute pointed to weaker economic growth, rising unemployment and worsening poverty levels, describing the budget as more of a “crisis containment” measure than a plan for economic recovery.
The Healthy Living Alliance called for stronger measures to address non-communicable diseases such as obesity and diabetes. The organisation advocated for strengthening the Health Promotion Levy, arguing that it could improve public health outcomes, generate additional revenue and reduce long-term pressure on the healthcare system.
Ms Simphiwe Masilo told the committee that South Africans are burdened by many non-communicable diseases. Cardiovascular deaths, for example, have increased from 17.8% to 18.4% between 2015 and 2017. “Over half of adults are overweight. One in three women, one in five men, and one in eight children are either overweight or obese. And diabetes cases could reach 8.7 5 million people by 2040,”said Ms Masilo.
The Budget Justice Coalition warned of the government’s growing reliance on national intervention to address failures in provincial and municipal systems. In addition, government departments, such as Statistics SA, experience capacity constraints and technical vacancies. This could lead to outdated data compromising fair resource allocation and evidence-based budgeting.
Labour federation COSATU focused on the challenges facing local government, describing municipalities as the weakest sphere of government. The federation pointed to widespread financial distress, infrastructure backlogs and difficulties in delivering basic services. While acknowledging government support and transfers to municipalities, COSATU argued that many councils continue to struggle with governance and service-delivery challenges.
COSATU nevertheless welcomed measures aimed at improving municipal billing systems and strengthening local government capacity. COSATU’s Mr Mathew Parks said: “We should also be having discussions about how to combine the jobs programme to see how we can improve efficiency, reduce wastage, increase the output.”
Concluding the public hearings, the committee Chairperson Ms Tidimalo Legwase, said common themes emerged from the process. These included the need for increased efficiency in the use of public resources, stronger oversight of infrastructure spending, improved municipal performance, equitable allocation of resources and better support for vulnerable communities.
“We are truly grateful for the submissions on the Appropriation Bill. The voices heard during the public hearings have enriched this process immensely, reflecting the vital work being done by organisations across the country and guiding how we think about the division of nationally raised funds,” said Ms Legwase.
Jabulani Majozi
11 June 2026
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