INLSA

Andries Mokgele, the tax tip winner

This year’s winning Budget tipster is Andries Mokgele, 40, of Kimberley.

Mokgele offered two tips to the National Treasury: to invest more heavily in education, particularly mathematics and science, to deepen skills development; and to strengthen policies that inculcate a culture of entrepreneurship.

Every year, the Minister of Finance invites you to submit to the Treasury your suggestions of what you would like to see in the National Budget.

Mokgele, who is the provincial registrar for tourism regulation at the Department of Economic Development and Tourism in the Northern Cape, says for school leavers to go into engineering and artisanship, they need maths and science.

“Infrastructure development calls for project management and artisanship. And our young people don’t have the requisite skills to meet the demands of the market.”

Mokgele, a former tour operator and specialist bird guide, went into tourism as a second career option. It was his heart’s desire to study chemical engineering, but he couldn’t afford to.

Instead he has committed himself to lifelong learning. He has studied entrepreneurship and business management through the University of South Africa, business administration through the University of Cape Town’s Business School, and leadership and management at Wits. This year he is doing a bachelor degree in management leadership through the University of the Free State.

Mokgele’s prize included an all-expenses-paid trip to Cape Town to experience the presentation of the Budget firsthand, the opportunity to hobnob with members of parliament at the minister’s Budget breakfast and post-Budget cocktail party, an interview with Vuyo Mbuli on SABC 2’s Morning Live, and a two-year subscription to Personal Finance magazine.

“I am very much humbled to get a call from the highest office … and to know that my ideas resonate with cabinet’s. It’s a great experience to be here.”

Of the competition, he says: “It’s a rare opportunity to get invited to put in a tip that might shape or influence policy.”

Bulelwa Boqwana, the head of communications at the Treasury, said Mokgele’s tips were chosen because they address key issues and focus on upliftment.

This year drew a record number of submissions – more than 1 000 – revealing that South Africans are becoming engaged in the Budget process.

“We got the most submissions from Gauteng, then the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The fewest came from the Northern Cape,” Bulelwa says. “The tips have improved over the years, with people really speaking to the key issues.”