South Africa's National Treasury has introduced a new budget mechanism that aims to identify and cut under-performing or low-priority government programmes. The new targeted and responsible savings (Tars) mechanism is part of the broader budget reform agenda aimed at ensuring that the national budget reflects the country's most pressing needs and highest-impact interventions. Tars will review spending and use AI to conduct an annual audit of ghost workers and payroll irregularities, among other things. Thabiso Lehoko spoke to Dawie Roodt, founder, Director and Chief Economist of the Efficient Group.