Budget: National Treasury reveals R147 million spent on Madlanga Commission

The National Treasury has revealed that R147 million has been spent on the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry, and R132 million has been spent on the National Dialogue this year.

The news came out of a briefing on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2025 Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBS) on Wednesday.

The Madlanga Commission, which started on September 17, 2025, was established by President Cyril Ramaphosa after KwaZulu-Natal Police Commissioner Lt-Gen Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi alleged political interference in the SAPS and protection of criminal networks, including within the judiciary.

Mkhwanazi accused now suspended Police Minister Senzo Mchunu of disbanding a task team probing political killings. He also warned that South Africa's justice system was facing collapse.

The National Dialogue has faced heavy criticism since it was first announced.

The programme includes a National Convention in August 2025 involving over 1,000 delegates, followed by six to nine months of public engagements. An Eminent Persons Group will also be appointed to serve as ambassadors, and the process aims to produce a long-term plan focused on jobs, inequality, education, health care, and land reform.

The National Dialogue’s first national convention took place at Unisa’s main campus in Pretoria on August 15 and 16. The second National Convention is to be held during the first half of 2026.

The cumulative amounts for both the Madlanga Commission and National Dialogue form part of what the minister called “unforeseeable and unavoidable expenditure”.

In the MTBS, Godongwana states: “The 2025 adjustments budget includes rollovers of R5.2 billion from the previous financial year and unforeseeable and unavoidable expenditure of R1.6 billion, mostly for disaster relief and funding for the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

“It also includes spending announced at the time of the 2025 Budget for the national dialogue, Statistics South Africa and the Office of the Chief Justice, and confirms provisional allocations for health and education, including early childhood development,” he said.

“Allocations are proposed for disaster relief backlogs not funded in the 2024 adjustments budget to rehabilitate municipal infrastructure, provincial roads, schools, healthcare facilities and agriculture,” Godongwana said.

In a briefing on the MTBS, it was Director-General of the National Treasury, Dr Duncan Pieterse, who answered the question on how much money had been spent on both the commission and the National Dialogue.

The minister added that funding will be reprioritised over the 2026 MTEF period to address cost pressures and achieve efficiency in combating crime and maintaining territorial integrity.

“This includes implementing early retirement, starting with the Department of Defence. Critical posts will be filled and, along with modernisation programmes, will enhance the effectiveness of the criminal justice system.

“The Department of Correctional Services will reprioritise funds to take over the two public-private partnership prisons, Mangaung and Kutama Sinthumule, in June 2026 and February 2027, respectively,” he said.

“The departments of Home Affairs and Police are reprioritising funds to improve immigration services and information and communications technology.

“Funding will also be shifted from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to the Office of the Chief Justice to strengthen the independence of the judiciary.

“Shared services budgets for facilities management, security services and virtual library services functions will be migrated in April 2026.”

theolin.tembo@inl.co.za