Finance minister Enoch Godongwana stuck to his predecessor’s pledge to cut corporate tax and bring relief to workers while resisting pressure to use an almost R200bn revenue windfall to commit to a permanent increase in welfare spending.

The government pledged to maintain fiscal discipline that will see it record a primary surplus, meaning that revenue will be higher than spending excluding interest payments, a year earlier than planned. Officials said 45% of the extra revenue would be used to pay down debt, with the rest used to pay for the Covid-19 grant extension, allocations to provinces, financial support for students and extra health spending...