The national budget speech 2015

2015

The national budget speech is an opportunity for government to tell you about its public spending plan for the year.

On Wednesday, 25 February 2015, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene delivered his first budget speech in Parliament at 14:00.

Read more about the key focus areas of this year's national budget: National Budget Speech 2015

We spoke to people about their expectations of the speech and here’s what they had to say:

	Chandrè Bester, 32, Cape Town “I pay a lot for petrol, electricity and food. Tax is ridiculous. I’d like to see a change with medical aid as you pay a lot. My sister lives abroad and does not pay medical fees, but the grass is not always greener on the other side.”
	Bonenelwa (no surname given), 23, Phillippi East “I think that social grants need to be increased as it helps children whose parents can’t support them. It needs to be increased to at least R350.”
	Kelly Borchards, 25, Cape Town “The cost of living needs to go down. You can’t have one person in Camps Bay enjoying heated flooring while another needs to walk far to use a toilet. Some people walk really far to get to work. If I was president, I’d give everyone a scooter. Give people the basics.”
	Asive Ngubentombi, 22, Cape Town “I’d like more money to go to students to attend other universities and to improve education. I also don’t believe that we should be paying for basic things like water.”
	Roy Lennon, Strandfontein, 60 “Money can go towards housing and services. We need to pay our taxes to assist people who can’t afford services. I think that government should also increase grants and the increase be decent.”
	Sbulele Cekiso, 21, Cape Town “I am a student. Government needs to offer more funds to students to further their studies. Something needs to be done about this.”
	Sinovuyo Mkunqwana, 21, Kuils River “Government needs to help students and give more money to helping them. I struggled when I needed to pay registration and my bursary application was rejected because my mother is a part-time teacher. We need help with our fees at university.”
	Monique Trokis, 40, Cape Town “They need to increase social grants. I receive R370 per child and my disabled son receives R1 800, but after I’ve paid for his medication there is barely anything left. The cost of living is very high. I’d also like to see some funding going towards street children."