Provinces And Local Government - Health and education score
For entities that have to continually justify their existence, SA's provinces shoulder a large portion of service delivery responsibilities. This year's budget confers more, not fewer, resources and responsibility on these unloved children.
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Health - Getting better slowly
Every year, the budget provides increased spending on health. That's good news, at least on the surface.
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Education - Close monitoring required
Public education remains the single largest government spending commitment and, with this year's allocation, it still gets much more than health and social services.
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JUSTICE - Cash alone won't do it
Will another R5,4bn be enough to fix a system famously described as "dysfunctional" last year by deputy justice minister Johnny de Lange?
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Defence - Dangerously neglected
Soldiers, airmen and sailors will find little comfort in the budget - though a few areas have been favoured.
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Infrastructure Investment -Bigger and better
Government's increasing emphasis on infrastructure investment is a key feature of the budget. This is reflected in the expanded public works programme and in other areas, such as the plan to provide financial support and guarantees for Eskom.
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Eskom - Prettier risk profile
Government doesn't have much choice but to dress up Eskom for the ever-watchful ratings agencies. They have not looked favourably on the financially strained power parastatal over the past year.
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LAND AND AGRICULTURE - Grounds for disagreement
Finance minister Trevor Manuel's provision of R1,8bn for rural development and farmer support indicates the romantic enchantment that small-scale agriculture has for many who seek to solve the problems of high food prices and poverty in the countryside.
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Housing - Stronger structure
Spending on housing has almost tripled since 2004, which is indicative of the growing emphasis on service delivery in the national budget.
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Home Affairs - Money for boxes
With South Africans still smarting because the new UK visa costs about R1 000, treasury has made specific budget allocations this year to improve the security of home affairs document processes and related systems.
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Foreign Affairs - A slight de-emphasis
Foreign policy has reached a turning point after years of growth in the number of foreign missions and new diplomatic relationships.
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Mining Royalties - Held over for a year
SA's mining sector might be shedding jobs faster than you can say "election manifestos", but finance minister Trevor Manuel has a plan that might alleviate the economic pain. National treasury has extended a hand to the mining sector by delaying the implementation date of the Royalties Bill by a year (2010).
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