Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is expected to deliver his toughest Budget on Wednesday with a stalling economy and a government under pressure to cut more spending.
Gordhan is expected to stick to fiscal consolidation and give direction on how to get the economy back on track.
Despite the economy struggling to pick up, he also faces the tough task of assuring investors of political stability and that South Africa remains open for business.
Rating agencies warned last year and again last month that structural reforms in the economy had to be implemented to avoid a credit rating downgrade.
The economy has been battling in the past decade and job losses in various sectors of the economy are also an issue.
The economy is expected to grow by less than 1% in 2016. This is down from 1.3% in 2015, and down from 1.5% in 2014 and 2.2% in the 2013 financial period.
But when Gordhan addresses Parliament on Wednesday he is expected to raise key policy matters that would ensure government maintains tight fiscal consolidation.
The government is expected to cut more expenditure in the public sector. This is in addition to the R25 billion targeted in the next three years.
Gordhan has been calling for belt-tightening since he took over in 2009 and upon his return to the Treasury in a tumultuous December 2015.
However, reports have emerged of some government departments not sticking to belt-tightening measures and billions wasted in irregular expenditure. Gordhan may have to rein in departments that are failing to reduce expenditure and cut costs.
The infighting in the ruling party is one of the issues that has dominated headlines in the past two years.
This time last year Gordhan was facing 27 questions from the Hawks and threats of arrest. He delivered the Budget, but the fight with the Hawks continued until the National Prosecuting Authority withdrew the charges last October.
This year Gordhan is again delivering another Budget with threats over his job.
Speculation has been mounting for the past few months of his possible successor at the Treasury.
President Jacob Zuma has denied a Cabinet reshuffle.
Gordhan is expected to also raise the issue of governance in state-owned entities. He has already raised concerns over the governance of some of them.
The latest setback at South African Airways, which has been slapped with a R1.6bn bill for anti-competitive behaviour, is another matter the minister will have to address.
The national carrier was taken to court by Comair for anti-competitive behaviour and this week the Johannesburg High Court ruled against it.
Last year SAA submitted its financials in the national legislature showing a hole in its balance sheet.
It had suffered a combined financial loss of R5.6bn in two years.
Gordhan has warned that the state would not give bailouts to state-owned entities.
But the key issue Gordhan will have to settle is education. Zuma has spoken of about R32bn redirected to higher education to deal with the question of fees.
It is not clear where government has cut spending and redirected funds to higher education.
Government is also on a mission to attract foreign investors.
On one of Gordhan's trips overseas last year to attract investors it emerged that investors were sitting on a R600 billion cash pile in investments.
Gordhan has also indicated the economy will grow by about 1.3% this year.