Pupils at Athlone High School were addressed by National Treasury about the budget for the 2025/6 financial year.
On Thursday March 13, pupils gathered in the school hall where Deputy Director of the National Treasury Edgar Sishi, addressed them. He said that it was important for pupils to be able to understand the budget speech as they learnt about this in high school.
He said that the budget took about 10 months to prepare and hearing what the youth thought about it, and what questions they had, was part of the National Treasury's outreach programme.
Deputy Director of the National Treasury, Edgar Sishi, spoke to pupils at Athlone High School about the new budget for South Africa.
Image: Nabeelah Mohedeen
He explained that the budget was about two things − money that the government made in the form of taxes and how that money was spent. He said that pupils might wonder how the budget affected them.
"The budget affects what you buy at the store every day. For example, the packet of chips you buy − there is tax added to the price," he said.
He said that the majority of tax was spent on education, which was more than R300 billion yearly. Most of that money went to teachers' salaries and infrastructure. Other huge beneficiaries of that money was used on healthcare and social grants.
"A huge amount of taxes also goes to paying debt. Government has borrowed about R5.5 trillion and the interest on that last year was R330 billion, which we have to pay back," he said.
Pupils at Athlone High School gathered in the school hall to be addressed about the budget speech.
Image: Nabeelah Mohedeen
Angelo Martin, Grade 11, asked if the new budget affected the price of alcohol and cigarettes. Mr Sishi said that a new tax on liquid tobacco (vape) was introduced this year and that it would raise R14 billion in taxes.
Sange Speelman, Grade 12, asked how the 0.5% VAT increase would affect us.
"Ultimately, you will pay more for things you buy. The cost of providing education and health has gone up. We've raised VAT in order to pay for things that have become unaffordable," said Mr Sishi.