On Wednesday, 12 March as Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana delivers our national budget speech, no one can deny that the stakes are high.

With a sluggish economy, SOEs and municipalities stricken by instability - can he reconcile the reality of a painfully squeezed tax-base with urgent national priorities?

And as the cost of borrowing threatens to drag us further into the red zone, can the minister deliver the ideas and galvanise the will to forge our nation’s path into a stable, shared future?