As South Africa awaits the national budget speech, the debate is already framed around familiar themes: fiscal consolidation, debt stabilisation, and constrained revenue.
These are legitimate concerns. But the deeper question is whether this budget will meaningfully shift the development model toward communities, where unemployment, hunger, and climate shocks are most acutely felt. A credible budget in 2026 cannot be based solely on spreadsheets. It must rebalance power and investment toward the local economies that sustain the majority of South Africans.
