Given an “unsustainable” wage bill, the National Treasury has shifted expenditure to investment, meaning that national and provincial compensation budgets will be reduced by R27-billion over the next three years.
According to Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, who delivered his maiden Budget speech on Wednesday, the first step to reducing the bill is to allow older public servants to retire early.
This will save an estimated R4.8-billion in 2019/20, R7.5-billion in 2020/21 and R8-billion in 2021/22.
Public Service and Administration Minister Ayanda Dlodlo is expected to outline details of the early retirement framework during the course of next week.
The framework is expected to impact about 30 000 workers.