EFF calls for 'incompetent' Godongwana's head over VAT increase reversal
Although the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has welcomed the decision to scrap the proposed VAT increase, the party has called for the immediate resignation of the Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana.
The party is among those who rejected the proposed 0.5 percentage point and even approached the Western Cape High Court to challenge the adopted fiscal framework which paved the way for the VAT hike.
As previously reported by The South African , National Treasury said Godongwana would introduce the Rates and Monetary Amounts and the Amendment of Revenue Laws Bills (Rates Bill), which proposes to maintain the VAT rate at 15% from 1 May, instead of the proposed increase announced in the 2025 Budget Speech.
National Treasury said the decision to waive the VAT increase followed extensive consultations with political parties, and careful consideration of the recommendations of the parliamentary committees.
Following the decision, the Red Berets maintained that the 2025 Budget fails to appreciate the degree and the depth of the economic crisis South Africa is confronted with, adding that the budget failed to respond decisively to the crisis of unemployment and poor economic growth that now threatens a national economic collapse.
'South Africans need jobs and economic growth urgently, and the state is the only institution with the capacity to respond — yet the National Treasury remains obsessed with an unscientific fiscal anchor strategy that will only plunge South Africa into a deeper crisis,' the EFF said.
The EFF also said the withdrawal of the 2025 Division of Revenue Bill and the Appropriations Bill effectively means that the budget is now withdrawn. It also means that the Minister of Finance has failed to comply with the legal and constitutional obligations governing the budget process.
Furthermore, the party called for the immediate resignation of the Minister of Finance and the Director-General of the National Treasury saying the entire budget fiasco should be a reflection for the Minister of Finance and his Director General that they are out of depth and pose a threat to the economic stability of the country and, by consequence, are a threat to the livelihoods of South Africans.
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