Budget speech 2019 Tito Mboweni

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 20: Finance minister Tito Mboweni prior to his 2019 budget speech in Parliament on February 20, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa. Mboweni, a former SA Reserve Bank governor delivered his first annual budget speech as minister of Finance amid socio-economic and political issues in the country. (Photo by Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Budget Speech 2019 in quotes: Tito’s top twelve revelations

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni had a tough job on his hands with the budget speech – here’s the pick of what he had to say, including a stern warning for Eskom.

Budget speech 2019 Tito Mboweni

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 20: Finance minister Tito Mboweni prior to his 2019 budget speech in Parliament on February 20, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa. Mboweni, a former SA Reserve Bank governor delivered his first annual budget speech as minister of Finance amid socio-economic and political issues in the country. (Photo by Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Tito Mboweni has delivered the budget speech for 2019, and he did it with a few jokes and japes thrown in for good measure, too. The over-arching tone of the fiscal report was expected to be gloomy and overbearing, but there wasn’t much doom-mongering to be found during the one-hour address.

Mboweni’s optimistic tone looked towards fixing Eskom, restoring the credibility of SARS and taking inspiration from The Bible. He also kept up his record of quoting Charles Dickens, as we last saw during his Mid-Term budget speech in October 2018.

We’ve collated the best soundbites and most important quotes from the minister’s address on Wednesday. Be warned, however, it’s not all chuckles and smiles. Especially not for those of us who like our alcohol and ciggies.

National Budget speech 2019 in quotes – 12 of the best from Tito Mboweni

SOEs get a roasting from the finance minister

“I feel that Oliver Twist may be more appropriate now, rather than the time I quoted a Tale Of Two Cities in October: ‘Please sir, may I have some more?’ But isn’t it about time this country asked – do we still need all these enterprises. If we do, can we manage them better?”

Eskom must get their act together

“During SONA, Cyril gave us a clear plan for electricity by breaking Eskom into three parts. Pouring money into Eskom as it is would be unsustainable. Government will NOT take on Eskom debt. We’ll give Eskom R23 billion a year until 2022. That’s conditional on a chief reorganisation officer, who Pravin Gordhan and I will appoint.”

Forget the budget speech, Tito Mboweni is a PSL fan

In this coming year, we expect revenues of R1.58 trillion and spending of R1.83 trillion. That means we will spend R243 billion more than we earn – that’s without including what we spend on the weekend when the Soweto Derby is on… Gross National Debt will stabalise at 60% of GDP by 2024.

Lovely bit of shade thrown towards Adriano Mazzotti

“Tax revenue is down R15.4 billion. However, money is going back into economy because SARS is being fixed. you can expect a new SARS commissioner “within weeks” and we will be fighting the illegal cigarette trade – I’m sure you saw what they did yesterday… somewhere.”

A 12-figure boost for free higher education

“Fully subsidised education and training for the poor is the government’s flagship higher education intervention. Over the medium term government will spend R111.2 billion to ensure that 2.8 million deserving students from poor and working-class families obtain their qualifications at universities and TVET colleges”

Budget speech: Out with the old in the public sector

“The public wage bill is unsustainable. We must shift expenditure to investment. The first step is to allow older public servants who want to do so, to retire early and gracefully. This will save an estimated R4.8 billion in 2019/20, R7.5 billion in 2020/21 and R8 billion in 2021/22.”

If in doubt, go to the bible

“How do we make this renewal a reality? I turned to the Good Book for guidance. In Zechariah 8 verse 12 it says: ‘The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people‘.”

In case you were wondering why Mboweni had a plant with him…

“A few years ago, Madam Speaker, one of my predecessors – Trevor Manuel – handed out succulent plums to the members of this house, to demonstrate the times of plenty we were in. ”

“Today, I walk into this house with an iconic South African plant, the aloe ferox. It is resilient, sturdy and drought resistant. It withstands the elements. Today, I bring you a seed to prove that if we plant anew, we can return to those plum times.”

Growth forecast

“Our recovery will be slow and steady. 2019 growth will rise to 1.5%, then 2.1% in 2021. World Economic Growth is expected to slow, thus constraining South Africa. We’ve got a weaker outlook now. I’m someone who believes the budget must follow after policy is set, not the other way round.”

Sin tax giggles at the budget speech

“Despite the increases for beer and wine, there will be no change on sorghum beer – this is a retirement present to the outgoing [IFP leader] Buthelezi! You used to stand when Manuel made this announcement!”

Tito Mboweni drops the bomb on xenophobes

“We must fight the challenge of nationalism. In many successful economies, immigrants have been a source of dynamism. Narrow nationalism often leads to stagnation. We need to redouble our efforts to attract highly-skilled people to South Africa. Their skills are complementary to our own.”

Back to the good book

“To colleagues in the Cabinet, in the Minister’s Committee on the Budget, and all those that have supported us in this time, I recall Psalm 23: Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me’.”