The biggest chunk of South Africa’s 2025/26 budget is going towards servicing debt — no surprise there; it’s been that way since the 2022/23 budget.
As Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana noted in his budget speech, 22 cents of every rand raised in revenue is spent on debt repayments. ‘It is more than what we spend on health, the police, and basic education,’ he said.
Back in 2017, health received the second-biggest share of the national budget. Now, it’s slipped to fourth place. This year, health received a 7.8% increase on last year’s allocation — slightly more than basic education (7.6%).
A ‘significant portion’ of the health budget goes towards salaries and wages. Yet over the past year, the public health system lost nearly 9,000 health workers. ‘We did not have the money to retain or replace them, even after reprioritising funds budgeted for consumables and medicines,’ Godongwana said.

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