By Papama Meleni, SASSFE ManCo Member and Masters Candidate at Wits

For decades, some of the world’s most profitable corporations have paid remarkably little tax. By routing profits through low tax jurisdictions, multinational corporations have legally reduced their contributions to the countries where they actually do business. For nations like South Africa, where access to higher education remains out of reach for so many deserving young people, this has come at a real cost.

That may be about to change.

In December 2024, President Ramaphosa signed the Global Minimum Tax Act into law. A companion administration act followed in January 2025. Together, these laws place South Africa among a growing number of nations implementing a 15% minimum corporate tax rate on large multinational enterprises, those with global revenues exceeding €750 million. For the first time, a company cannot simply move its profits to a low tax country and pay nothing. If the jurisdiction where profits are held does not tax them adequately, South Africa now has the legal authority to collect the difference.

This is not a minor development. Globally, estimates suggest the reform could generate between USD 155 and 192 billion in additional tax revenue every year. South Africa’s share will not change everything on its own, but it represents something meaningful: a sign that the rules of global commerce are moving toward greater fairness.

What the 2026 Budget Tells Us

In the 2026/27 budget, education across both basic and higher learning constitutes the largest component of government spending at 23.7% of consolidated expenditure, totalling R527.2 billion. Of that, NSFAS received R54.3 billion, while university transfers sit at R50.5 billion.

The numbers sound significant until you look closer. That R54.3 billion allocation is expected to fund bursaries for 744,203 poor and academically deserving students. Yet more than 49,000 students will not receive NSFAS funding in the 2026 academic year, not because they do not qualify, but because the money runs out. The scheme received nearly 894,000 applications. The budget answered fewer than 700,000 of them.

Why This Matters

The global minimum tax does not solve this problem on its own. But it opens a conversation that South Africans, and particularly those committed to educational access, must engage with seriously. If governments begin collecting revenue that was previously lost to tax avoidance, the question of how that money is spent becomes a matter of public will, not arithmetic.

This reform is not without its complications. Developing countries, including South Africa, have raised legitimate concerns about how these rules were designed. The framework was largely shaped by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, a body dominated by wealthier nations. Many African governments have argued that the rules allow the biggest gains to flow back to the home countries of these multinationals, rather than to the nations where the actual business activity takes place. That debate is ongoing, and South Africa has a voice in it.

What SASSFE Believes

SASSFE was founded on a straightforward conviction: that higher education cannot be accessible only to those who can afford it. The global minimum tax debate, technical as it may seem, is at its core about that same principle. It asks whether the corporations that benefit most from operating across the globe will contribute their fair share to the countries that make their success possible.

The students SASSFE supports cannot wait for that debate to reach its conclusion. They need bursaries, they need support, and they need it now. That is why the generosity of our alumni community remains the most direct and dependable bridge between a young person’s potential and their future.

SASSFE also believes in keeping sight of the bigger picture. A world where corporations pay fair taxes is a world with more resources for public universities, for student funding, and for the kind of society that gives every deserving South African a genuine opportunity to build a better life.

That world is worth working toward. In the meantime, so is every single student we help get through the door.