Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni’s 2019 Budget review urged municipalities to ease their dependence on the national fiscus for infrastructure funding and instead attract private investment and take advantage of incentives that reward good governance.

Spending and budgetary performances may be improving — but there’s still a long way to go.

There’s a clear message to provinces and municipalities in this budget: get your financial house in order or national government will step in and do it for you.