As the national Budget speech looms on Wednesday, the critical topics Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to wrangle with, include finding an extra R15 billion in tax, announcing cost-cutting measures across government, giving some certainty on a basic income grant, paying more in social welfare, tackling the issue of SA's rising borrowings, the bail-outs for Eskom and Transnet – and how all of the above will be funded in a landmark election year.
He's also going to have to carefully explain why the government has missed its revenue and expenditure targets, which were set just three and a half months ago, and how government's continued fiscal slippage will be addressed.