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Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Nonceba Mhlauli, has called for a shift in how development is funded, urging global leaders to prioritise measurable impact over expenditure.

This as she officially opened the 2026 Outcomes Finance Alliance Summit in Cape Town.

Addressing delegates from government, the private sector, philanthropy and civil society, Mhlauli said the world faces mounting and interconnected challenges, including rising youth unemployment, persistent poverty, strained health and education systems, and the growing impact of climate change.

“At its core, this Summit speaks to one of the most urgent questions of our time: how do we ensure that every rand, every dollar, and every investment delivers meaningful, measurable change in people’s lives,” she said.

The summit, hosted in partnership with the South African Medical Research Council and other stakeholders, brings together global leaders and policymakers to advance outcomes-based financing as a tool to accelerate social and economic development.

Mhlauli said outcomes-based financing represents a necessary evolution in development finance, shifting the focus from inputs and activities to results and impact.

“Governments are being called upon to do more with less, while citizens demand accountability, transparency and results. Outcomes-based financing responds directly to this reality,” she said.

She highlighted South Africa’s progress in implementing the model, pointing to the Jobs Boost Outcomes Fund as one of the largest globally focused models on employment.

Through the R300 million fund, government pays for verified employment outcomes rather than activities, with over 9 100 verified enrolments and more than 6 800 job placements achieved to date. More than R220 million has already been disbursed based on independently verified results.

“This is not a pilot in theory. It is a demonstration, at scale, that outcomes-based financing can deliver real, measurable employment results,” Mhlauli said.

The initiative targets young people not in employment, education or training, with a strong emphasis on inclusion, particularly for women and those in underserved communities. 

Implementing partners such as BlueLever, Swift and Afrika Tikkun have played a key role in delivering training and job placement support.

Mhlauli said the programme has not only created employment opportunities but restored dignity and hope among young beneficiaries.

“These are not abstract outcomes. They are real transformations. They remind us that outcomes-based financing is about unlocking human potential at scale,” she said.

She also pointed to progress in early childhood development through outcomes-based funding models aimed at improving school readiness and child wellbeing, particularly in disadvantaged communities.

However, Mhlauli stressed that the success of outcomes-based financing depends on strong partnerships across sectors.

“It requires trust, shared risk, and a willingness to move beyond traditional silos,” she said, adding that collaboration between governments, investors, philanthropies and service providers is critical to scaling impact.

The Deputy Minister urged participants to move beyond discussions and commit to concrete actions that will strengthen the global outcomes financing ecosystem.

“We must move from dialogue to action. We must identify practical pathways to scale. We must strengthen the pipeline of investable opportunities.

“We must build the institutional capacity required within governments and implementing organisations. And we must ensure that the benefits of outcomes-based financing reach those who need it most,” she said.

Mhlauli said South Africa remains committed to playing a leading role in advancing innovative financing models that promote accountability, improve service delivery and drive inclusive growth.

She further encouraged participants to use this Summit as an opportunity to share lessons openly, to build meaningful partnerships, and to commit to concrete actions that will advance the outcomes financing ecosystem globally.

“Let us work together to ensure that financing is not only mobilised, but that it delivers real, measurable, and lasting outcomes,” she said. 

The Outcomes Finance Alliance Summit runs from 25 March, bringing together global stakeholders to explore ways to expand outcomes-based financing across sectors such as health, education, climate and job creation. – SAnews.gov.za 

 

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KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli has commended members of voluntary community safety structures for their dedication and sacrifice in the ongoing effort to build safer communities free from crime.

The Premier was speaking at a recent engagement with crime prevention structures at Riverview Community Hall in Ward 10 under the Greater Kokstad Local Municipality, within the Harry Gwala District Municipality.

Delivering the keynote address on Tuesday, Ntuli commended the spirit of volunteerism demonstrated by community safety members, noting that their role remains critical in supporting law enforcement agencies and strengthening grassroots crime prevention efforts.

“The provincial government applauds your spirit of volunteerism. We urge you to continue working within the prescripts of the law. Your main responsibility is to ensure that our communities are, and feel safe and protected,” the Premier said.

The Premier also urged community members to take a leading role in combating all forms of crime, with particular emphasis on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF), as well as the rising incidents of kidnappings in the area.

Ntuli highlighted the need for stronger vigilance, improved reporting of criminal activities, and closer collaboration between communities and law enforcement agencies to curb these crimes effectively.

Ntuli further emphasised the importance of implementing stricter screening and vetting processes within community safety structures to prevent infiltration by criminal elements.

He noted that maintaining integrity within the formations is essential to building public trust and ensuring effective operations.

The Premier reiterated the provincial government’s commitment to the capacitation and professionalisation of community safety structures, including providing training, resources and institutional support to enhance their effectiveness.

Building safer communities through partnership

The engagement forms part of ongoing provincial efforts to strengthen community-based approaches to crime prevention, ensuring that residents play an active role in safeguarding their communities.

Ntuli concluded by reaffirming that sustainable safety can only be achieved through collective responsibility, partnership, and a shared commitment to protecting the well-being of all citizens across KwaZulu-Natal. – SAnews.gov.za
 

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The National Treasury, together with its partners, has launched the third phase of the Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) programme, reaffirming a shared commitment to grounding South Africa’s economic policy decisions in rigorous, co-produced evidence. 

“At its core, SA-TIED is anchored on a simple and yet powerful principle — good policy must be grounded in credible evidence. Better evidence leads to better policy, and better policy leads to better outcomes for our people,” Deputy Finance Minister, Dr David Masondo, said in Pretoria on Tuesday.

SA-TIED is a research-policy partnership between the National Treasury, the South African Revenue Service (SARS), and the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), with financial support from the European Union and the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. 

Now entering its third phase, the programme works to close the gap between research and policy implementation by embedding evidence directly within government systems and building analytical capacity.

Phase II has produced a substantial body of evidence directly informing South Africa’s policy priorities. 

Over 130 research papers have been published, with 65% authored or co-authored by South African researchers and 63% featuring women as authors or co-authors. 

More than 200 participants, half of them from government, have been trained in advanced economic modelling, econometrics, spatial analysis, and data science, building skills that will endure well beyond the programme’s lifecycle.

“Research is not a luxury, if anything, it is needed more than ever. In times of uncertainty, bad decisions become very costly, short-term thinking becomes very tempting, and political pressure can crowd out careful thinking. 

“What SA-TIED has built is something very rare: trust between research and policymaking. That trust is the foundation on which Phase III will be built,” incoming UNU-WIDER Director Patricia Justino said.

A defining achievement of Phase II has been the growth of the National Treasury Secure Data Facility (NTSDF), one of the first such institutions in the Global South, which links anonymised administrative tax data. 

The facility has supported over 65 researchers in the past year alone and has directly informed government policy outputs. 

It is increasingly recognised as a model for responsible administrative data use, with several countries already seeking to replicate the approach.

SARS Deputy Commissioner Johnstone Makhubu reaffirmed SARS’ strategic commitment to data-driven policymaking.

“We see tax administration data as the lifeblood of research and economic policy design. We gather data with the end in mind, not only for tax administration purposes, but also for research,” Makhubu said.

Research under SA-TIED has addressed six core areas central to South Africa’s development agenda: enterprise development for job creation and growth; public revenue mobilisation for inclusive development; structural transformation, labour markets, and inequality dynamics; macro-fiscal analysis and policy modelling; food, energy, and water in the context of climate change; and reform implementation and delivery.

Phase III, running from 2026 to 2029, will consolidate and expand on these gains. It will focus on a set of core priorities, including strengthening the link between research and policy implementation, expanding access to administrative datasets and building state capability through training, skills development, and greater integration of research within government. 

Phase III also introduces a new emphasis on public expenditure efficiency, reflecting the reality that, in a constrained fiscal environment, the question is no longer only how much the state spends, but how effectively it spends. –SAnews.gov.za

 

 

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The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), together with the Presidency of South Africa’s Presidential Youth Employment Intervention are, from today, hosting a summit aimed at addressing South Africa’s most pressing health and development challenges.

Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Nonceba Mhlauli, is expected to deliver the opening remarks at the summit.

Over the next three days, the Outcome Finance Alliance (OFA) summit will bring together global and local partners to “design and test strategies to make pay-for-success financing instruments a cost-effective and scalable proposition to support development agencies and governments to deliver on the UN Sustainable Development Goals”.

“As South Africa continues to confront high rates of HIV infection, teenage pregnancy, and broader health system pressures, innovative approaches to both service delivery and financing are becoming increasingly critical.

“Outcomes-Based Finance, which links funding directly to measurable results, is emerging as a practical tool to improve accountability, unlock new investment, and ensure that limited resources deliver real impact.

“The SAMRC looks forward to sharing key learnings and challenges, with the aim of identifying pathways to unlock further public–private partnerships that can accelerate the impact and institutionalisation of OBF,” the SAMRC said in a statement.

At the centre of the council’s contribution will be its work in the Social Impact Bonds (SIBs), a model described as enabling “private and philanthropic investors to fund health interventions upfront, with government or donors repaying only when agreed outcomes are achieved”.

“The SAMRC’s first SIB was implemented through the Imagine Programme, a comprehensive intervention targeting adolescent girls and young women in high schools in Moretele and Newcastle, areas with high HIV prevalence and teenage pregnancy rates.

“Launched in 2023, the programme delivers integrated sexual and reproductive health services directly within schools, including access to contraception, HIV testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), pregnancy care, and referrals for further treatment, including ongoing support for those on antiretroviral therapy.

“The programme also provides psychosocial support in safe spaces on the school grounds, helping to reduce stigma and improve overall well-being,” the statement read.

Executive Programme Manager for Social Impact Bonds at the SAMRC, Dr Nevilene Slingers added: “This model fundamentally changes how we fund health interventions.

“By linking funding to verified outcomes, we are able to strengthen accountability, support innovation, and ensure that resources are directed toward interventions that make a measurable difference within health”.

The OFA will provide an opportunity to “deepen collaboration, share lessons, and accelerate the adoption of financing models that prioritise impact”.

“As fiscal pressures continue to mount, these approaches offer a pathway to strengthen health systems while ensuring that investment translates into meaningful and measurable outcomes for communities,” the statement concluded. – SAnews.gov.za

 

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Deputy President Paul Mashatile will host his counterpart from the People’s Republic of China, Vice President Han Zheng, at Tuynhuys, Cape Town, in the Western Cape Province. 

The two leaders will co-chair the 9th South Africa-China Bi-National Commission (BNC) on Thursday, under the theme: “South Africa-China Relations in an Era of Global Transformation: Advancing Shared Modernisation”.

“South Africa and China enjoy strong diplomatic relations, anchored in the All-Round Strategic Cooperative Partnership in the New Era. The BNC at the Deputy Presidential level was established in 2000 as the highest-structured bilateral mechanism for consolidating diplomatic, economic, and sectoral cooperation between the two nations,” the Presidency said.

Additionally, reciprocal State Visits and exchange of visits across Government Ministries, Parliament and Provinces reflect the depth of the relations and advance South Africa’s foreign policy and development priorities.

Other Bilateral Structured Mechanisms with China to implement the 10-Year Strategic Programme on Cooperation (2020–2029), and monitor cooperation, include the Strategic Dialogue (SD) at Ministerial level: Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), the Joint Economic and Trade Commission (JETC) at Minister of Trade level, the People-to-People Exchange Mechanism (PPEM) at Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture level, and the Joint Working Group at Deputy Ministerial level: DIRCO. –SAnews.gov.za

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The implementation of structural reforms has liberalised the energy market; shifted it away from reliance on Eskom; resolved Eskom’s debt and enabled the power utility to invest in repairing and maintaining its energy generation infrastructure. 

“The structural reforms are paying off. We have liberalised the energy market, and we no longer depend solely on Eskom for our electricity supply,” Deputy Finance Minister, Dr David Masondo, said on Tuesday.

Through Operation Vulindlela, government is advancing structural reforms to unlock growth, strengthen infrastructure, and improve state capabilities.

“These structural reforms, along with the resolution of Eskom’s R420 billion debt, have enabled Eskom to invest in repairing and maintaining its energy generation infrastructure. As a result, we are currently not experiencing load shedding.

“It is therefore essential that we continue to reform our economy to withstand global headwinds and external shocks. We must also implement additional measures, such as increasing investment in renewable energy and gas, to diversify our energy sources and reduce the risk of future energy disruptions,” the Deputy Minister said.

Masondo was addressing the launch of Phase 3 of the Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) programme, an initiative intended to support policymaking in South Africa by working closely with researchers to close knowledge gaps crucial to the achievement of inclusive growth and economic transformation. 

“We are launching Phase III at a critical moment. Globally, economic conditions remain uncertain. In this environment, evidence becomes even more important. It enables better prioritisation. It supports more efficient allocation of resources. And it ensures that reforms deliver measurable outcomes,” Masondo said.

Phase III, running from 2026 to 2029, will consolidate and expand the gains already achieved.

The programme will continue to focus on key areas, including public revenue mobilisation, poverty, inequality, and labour markets; Macro-fiscal analysis; and climate-related challenges across food, energy, and water

“Importantly, Phase III introduces a new focus on public expenditure. This is critical. As fiscal space becomes more constrained, the question is no longer only how much we spend, but how effectively we spend.

“Improving the efficiency and impact of public expenditure will be central to achieving inclusive growth,” the Deputy Minister said.

Phase III will be anchored on three core priorities.

First, deepening research for evidence-based policymaking, including strengthening the link between research and implementation.

Second, strengthening data infrastructure by expanding access to administrative datasets and ensuring long-term sustainability.

Third, building state capability through training, skills development, and greater integration of research within government.

“Ultimately, sustainable reform depends not only on good ideas, but on the capacity to implement them. The defining feature of our time is uncertainty. In such an environment, governments must be agile, responsive, and informed.

“SA-TIED represents exactly the kind of institutional innovation required to meet this challenge. As we launch Phase III, we reaffirm a simple principle: better evidence leads to better policy. And better policy leads to better outcomes for our people,” the Deputy Minister said.

He added that the National Treasury remains committed to sustaining the partnership with all partners in government, academia, and development partners, and ensuring that evidence continues to inform the delivery of reform in South Africa. 

“This programme is not only about producing research, but also about embedding evidence within the processes of government.

“It is built on long-term collaboration between policymakers and researchers, grounded in trust and shared purpose. Our partnership with UNU-WIDER has been central to this success,” the Deputy Minister said.

The World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU-WIDER) brings global expertise, strong research networks, and methodological rigour, which have strengthened the quality and relevance of the work produced.

“We also extend our appreciation to the European Union and the United Kingdom for their continued support. These partnerships demonstrate that well-aligned collaboration can build lasting institutional capability,” Masondo said. –SAnews.gov.za

 

 

 

 

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Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo is expected to deliver a keynote address at the 2026 Future of Sustainability Conference in Johannesburg, this evening.

The two-day conference, currently underway in Fourways, started on Tuesday, 24 March 2026, bringing together sustainability leaders, policymakers, chief executive officers, academics and industry specialists to tackle pressing challenges and explore innovative ways of embedding sustainability into business strategies.

Established in 2011, the conference emerged from a partnership between Topco Media and the United Nations to produce the official publication for COP17 – United Nations Climate Change Conference.

The collaboration laid the groundwork for what has become a key platform for advancing sustainability dialogue in Africa.

This year’s programme features expert-led panel discussions examining critical sustainability challenges and opportunities facing both South Africa and the broader continent.

According to the Department of Water and Sanitation, Mahlobo’s address will focus on strengthening partnerships at local, national and global levels, and highlight the Blue Deal as a model for cooperation and progress.

“This is a call to action to commit to strengthening collaboration across all levels of society and investing in innovation and capacity building,” the department said in a statement.

Conference highlights include a panel on supporting grassroots green waste entrepreneurs hosted by HEINEKEN Beverages, which will explore how small-scale innovators are converting waste into economic opportunities within South Africa’s circular economy.

Another session, hosted in partnership with the UN Global Compact Network South Africa, will focus on urban water security. The discussion will examine how collaboration between government, business and communities can strengthen urban water systems through public-private-community partnerships, supported by practical case studies.

Delegates are also expected to gain practical insights into addressing resource scarcity, building resilient urban infrastructure, and adapting to climate change.

The programme further offers guidance on emerging technologies, innovative business models, sustainability reporting, and the role of inclusive leadership in driving both economic and social impact. – SAnews.gov.za
 

 

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