Boost for emerging farmers

The government has budgeted R3.7bn to assist emerging farmers seeking to acquire arable land to farm.

It will also support 262 “priority land-reform projects” in the next three years‚ at a cost of R1.8bn.

Finance minister Tito Mboweni‚ tabling his budget in parliament on Wednesday‚ said over the next three years the government would also spend R1.2-trillion on education‚ R717bn to improve the ailing public health infrastructure and about R900bn on social development or social grants.

Mboweni said the department of basic education would receive R30bn to build new schools and maintain existing schooling infrastructure.

An additional R2.8bn would also be channelled towards eradicating pit latrines at more than 2‚400 schools.

In the next three years‚ just over R111bn would be set aside to fund 2.8-million “deserving students from poor and working class families to obtain their qualifications at universities and technical and vocational and training colleges”.

“In health‚ we need simple‚ effective interventions. We need more doctors and nurses.

“R2.8bn has been reprioritised to a new human grant and R1bn for medical interns.”

On housing and human settlements‚ Mboweni introduced the “Our Help to Buy subsidy” for first-time buyers.

The subsidy scheme would be piloted at a cost of R950m in the next three years.

Mboweni would also‚ in the next two years‚ introduce two conditional grants to the tune of R14.7bn through the reprioritisation of funds.

The money would be “for informal settlements upgrading‚ which will enable these households to have access to basic amenities”. –