Gordhand told Parliament the latest budget was designed to catapult the country on to an investment-led growth path that would see billions of rand invested in infrastructure development and create much-desired jobs.

Chris Gilmour of Absa Asset Management Private Clients said the money targeted for infrastructure could “easily balloon” and urged government to guard the investment.

“With regard to infrastructure spending, theoretically it can go to as much as R3.2 trillion, with more than R810bn over the next three years.

“We need to see much more in the way of tangible evidence of spend,” Gilmour said.

Turning to the incentives to encourage the general public to save, Gilmour said: “The Treasury has stated it will look at innovative ways of encouraging saving by offering annual exemptions of R30000, capped at a lifetime contribution of R550000, into tax-free savings accounts. This is good and should be positive for savings generally, when it is most needed. However, we need more detail with regard to this.”

Labour movement United Association of South Africa (Uasa) said it was generally happy with the proposed infrastructure development projects as a way to create jobs and kick-start the economy but has concerns with the fuel levy.

“The increase of the general fuel levy by 20c a litre and the Road Accident Fund levy by 8c a litre are cause for concern, especially in combination with the e-tolling of Gauteng’s roads.

“This will certainly make a hole in the average South African’s pocket, with a total increase in 28c a litre in the fuel price and 33c per km on toll roads,” said Uasa.

The trade union said with e-tolling capped at R550 per month, this could mean an extra R6600 per year. Uasa is of the opinion this comes down to unacceptable discrimination against the poor.

Gordhan pronounced he has set aside R5.8bn to help offset the R20bn cost of the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Programme.

The Gauteng toll project was initially scheduled to be enforced in June last year but has since been on hold due to increased public objections. The principals of the project, Sanral, said it expects to generate R300m monthly if the project goes live.

Metropolitan Health CEO Blum Khan said the budget contained confidence-building elements.

“There is some element of optimism in that message,” Khan said.

Khan said the declarations by the government that it would remove the waste and inefficiency in its system were welcome, as was the visible progress in the health system, which was a major confidence booster.

Gordhan told Parliament the new health system would require funding over and above current budget allocations to public health.