Honourable Speaker, Thoko Didiza 
Deputy Speaker, Annelie Lotriet
Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Refiloe Mtshweni-Tsipane 
Deputy Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Les Govender
His Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa 
Honourable Deputy President Paul Mashatile 
Cabinet Colleagues
Members of the Executive Council for Finance
Honourable Members
Governor of the South African Reserve Bank 
Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service Fellow South Africans

Allow me to table the following documents before this House:

• The 2025 Division of Revenue Bill;
• The 2025 Appropriation Bill;
• The 2025 Estimates of National Expenditure;
• The Revised Information on 2025 Estimates of National Expenditure;
• The 2025 Budget Review published on 12 March and re-tabled here as a key policy reference;
• Updated Annexure A of the March 2025 Budget Review;
• Updated Statistical Annexure to the March 2025 Budget Review;
• The 2025 Budget Overview; and
• The 2025 Budget Speech.

The documents tabled today are additional to the Bills previously tabled, namely:

• The 2025 Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill;
• The 2025 Public Sector Pension and Related Payments Bill;
• The 2025 Revenue Laws Amendment Bill;
• The 2025 Rates and Monetary Amounts and Amendment of Revenue Laws Bill; 

Introduction
Madam Speaker, a national budget is not merely an accounting exercise measuring what we earn, what we spend and what we borrow as a nation.

It is a reflection of the difficult trade-offs needed to balance fiscal sustainability while addressing our developmental goals.

It is unsurprising then that the increase to Value Added Tax (VAT) proposed on March 12 created so much debate.

A vital debate no doubt, but one that also created some uncertainty. There is clarity now: VAT will remain at 15 per cent.

This decision reflects our commitment to listen to South Africans, and to all the political parties represented in this House.

Today’s budget has taken these views into account.

This is what the past two months have provided: valuable lessons that will inform how we manage the budget process moving forward.

The reality, however, is that the decision to do away with the VAT increase, without a viable alternative source of revenue, significantly reduced our ability to fund additional government programmes and projects to the extent we had deemed necessary.

Nevertheless, this budget supports sustainable finances, the social wage and investments in economic growth.

Full speech attached.