Five Budget discussion documents to watch out for later this year

The Budget Review 2026 was a veritable trove of information for journalists this year.

Some of the hot topics to keep an eye out for later this year include the redesign of the social relief grant, a strategy to address illicit trade, setting up a central fund for unclaimed benefits and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial services sector.

A central fund for unclaimed benefits

The government wants to centralise the management of more than R88-billion sitting in unclaimed financial assets. This includes old retirement benefits, dormant bank accounts, forgotten investments and unpaid insurance payouts.

The idea is simple: that money should benefit the people it belongs to, not quietly sit with financial institutions or get eaten away by fees.

Under the proposal, the funds would be transferred to a central manager to reduce costs and improve returns, with a separate central administrator responsible for record-keeping and tracing rightful owners.

The roll-out will start with retirement funds, because that system already has better identification and monitoring processes, and later expand to other types of unclaimed assets.

Right now, the system is fragmented, definitions differ and fees can slowly erode the value of what is owed to people. The government argues that a single database and central administrator would make it easier to trace beneficiaries, improve transparency and simplify the claims process.

In short, fewer silos, clearer rules and a more straightforward way for people to claim what is theirs. A discussion document will be published soon for public comment.

Redesign of the social distress grant

The National Treasury and the Department of Social Development were meant to produce a comprehensive policy paper on the future of the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant and possible basic income support options before the Budget.

The thinking was that the paper should quantify the fiscal costs and macroeconomic effects of alternative grant values and coverage (including values at or above the food poverty line) and set out clear financing options, including progressive tax measures.

The SRD grant was specifically extended for another year to March 2027 to give the relevant departments enough time to complete the policy paper. The government is also apparently considering options to link the grant to skills development and employment opportunities. In a country which that posted an official unemployment rate of 31.4% and a broader unemployment rate of 42.1%, such a linkage would effectively kill two birds with one stone.

However, it was not ready in time for this Budget, and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana assured journalists at the media briefing ahead of his speech that more details would be available by the 2026 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS).

Illicit trade task force

The National Treasury, South African Revenue Service (SARS) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will jointly brief Parliament on a co-ordinated enforcement strategy for illicit trade, including a clear division of responsibilities, case-selection criteria and measurable targets for investigations brought to court and successfully prosecuted.

The Finance Committee expects this briefing to include information on how SARS cases are referred to the NPA, the current status of major illicit-trade prosecutions, and any legislative or capacity constraints that require attention.

Stablecoin innovation

South Africa’s Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (IFWG) is working on an appropriate regulatory framework for stablecoins. The IFWG’s focus in 2026 will be on assessing whether existing regulatory frameworks apply to rand-pegged stablecoin arrangements and the policy implications of foreign-currency-pegged stablecoins, with the aim of publishing discussion papers for public consultation later this year.

The impact of finfluencers

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) is conducting a market study looking at the impact of influencers on consumers’ financial decisions. The study, to be published later this year, has been prompted by social media’s prominence as a source of financial information.

At the same time, SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter confirmed to media that the taxman is also turning its lens to social media “influencers”.

“We are aware that increasingly young people that are active on social media, gather followers, and get paid for ‘influencing’. We are looking into it – of about 26m people active on social media, at what point are you an influencer? If you are deriving an income from your presence on social media, you should be registered for income tax. However, we haven’t hardened the definition yet and we are profiling social media influencers to learn about the sector. At this point, we want them to voluntarily register as taxpayers,” he said.

AI in financial services

The FSCA and the Prudential Authority have undertaken a survey looking at the adoption of AI in the financial services sector. They are now collaborating on a discussion paper based on the survey, which will be published in July this year. “The paper will set out recommendations for the safe and responsible adoption of AI [...] with a view to developing a formal joint regulatory instrument,” the Budget Review states. DM