GOOD Statement by Brett Herron,
GOOD Secretary General
21 October 2026
Yesterday, GOOD set out what the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement needed to deliver – meaningful fuel price relief, a systemic review of the General Fuel Levy, and an end to the SRD grant being kicked down the road. Minister Godongwana delivered only part of the first, nothing on the second, and nothing at all on the third.
Fuel relief is welcome, but too light and too short.
The Minister has cut the fuel levy by R1.50 a litre on petrol and R3 on diesel from 4 November to 1 December. After that, the cut falls to R1 and R1.50 until 5 January 2027. The R10 billion is not new money – it is funding already set aside for the Central Energy Fund, returned to the fiscus.
The geopolitical pressure on oil prices will not end in January, and neither will the knock-on costs of food, goods and public transport. Nine weeks of shrinking relief is not a policy that’s going to address our cost-of-living crisis.
There was also no proposed review of the General Fuel Levy, which still works as a general tax rather than serving any clear purpose. Instead, motorists and commuters will be back to full levy rates in the new year.
SRD grant – not a single word
The speech did not mention the SRD grant at all. More than 8 million unemployed adults still receive R370 a month, an amount frozen since April 2024. That is less than R13 a day.
Stats SA’s 2026 food poverty line is R868 per person per month, and its lower-bound poverty line is R1,457. The SRD grant covers less than 43% of the cost of a minimum diet, and about a quarter of the lower-bound line. The National Development Plan commits the State to eliminating poverty measured by the lower-bound line by 2030. With four years left, the Minister has nothing to say about it.
Savings found, but not for the poor.
The Minister found R38.1 billion in new savings and R45.5 billion in additional spending this year. That shows the fiscus can find money when it wants to. GOOD has called for zero-based budgeting, so that every allocation is justified from scratch. Applied properly, it would free up resources to put an adequate income floor under the poorest South Africans.
Growth is aiming far too low.
Treasury has cut 2026 growth to 1.2% and expects only 2% by 2029. The Minister’s hope that growth “could exceed 3 per cent” is conditional, and even 3% would not be enough. GOOD has long argued that South Africa needs at least 5% growth, sustained for at least 15 years, to meaningfully reduce unemployment. This statement brings us no closer.
Fiscal stability matters. But stability without growth, jobs, or an adequate income floor is stagnation for the people who can least afford it.
Media Enquiries: media@forgood.org.za