Big slices for grants, schools, health

Finance Minister Nhanhla Nene has tried to cushion the poor from the consequences of slow economic growth and limited state funds with spending increases for social grants, health, education and infrastructure.

Social Protection

The Department of Social Development will receive an additional R7-billion to help the increasing number of people needing grants.

Nene said the government wanted to increase the number of children getting grants from just over 11million to more than 12million by 2018.

Infrastructure

More than R80-billion is to be spent on more than 220 water and sanitation projects in the next three years.

Education

Over the next three years R640-billion will be spent on basic education and R195-billion on post-school education (including tertiary education and occupational training).

The sum of R3.1-billion will be awarded in bursaries for aspirant teachers in the next three years.

Nene said R7.4-billion had been earmarked for the replacement of 500 unsafe or poorly constructed schools, and R4.1-billion for establishing public libraries over the next three years.

He announced university subsides of R72.4-billion, an increase of about 6% over last year, and an increase in the allocation to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme from R9.2-billion to R11.9-billion over the next three years.

Health

About R178-billion of taxpayers' money will be spent on health services this year. The Treasury is to move R1.5-billion from provincial budgets to the national Health Department to allow the National Institute for Communicable Diseases to be centrally funded.