MK Party warns of deeper economic crisis amid VAT suspension
Slamming the GNU's economic agenda, the MK Party accuses the ANC and DA of deepening inequality and looting, while calling for people-centered policies and the resignation of Finance Minister Godongwana.
Image: Timothy Bernard / Independent Newspapers
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) has welcomed the Western Cape High Court's decision to suspend the Democratic Alliance (DA)- led government's planned increase in Value Added Tax (VAT), but warns that the ruling is merely a temporary fix in the face of what it describes as a deeper economic and governance crisis.
MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela says the VAT suspension, while necessary, "addresses only a symptom of a deeper crisis" and accuses the so-called Government of National Unity (GNU) of pursuing a brutal program of austerity, privatisation, and anti-poor policies.
At the centre of MK's critique is President Cyril Ramaphosa's Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP), which the party calls a 'brutal blueprint for mass impoverishment.' Ndhlela said: 'Cloaked in technocratic language, the ERRP is a war against the poor, built on savage austerity, anti-worker reforms and suffocating monetary policy that has destroyed any prospect of meaningful recovery.'
The MK Party dismissed perceived policy differences between the ANC and DA as 'pure theatre,' calling them 'ideological twins committed to deepening inequality and looting the country.'
It also took aim at the South African Reserve Bank, accusing it of exacerbating the crisis through aggressive interest rate hikes that have ballooned the state's debt burden and further eroded fiscal space.
Criticising the government's priorities, the party condemned ongoing plans to privatise key state assets, including Eskom, Transnet, and water boards, arguing these moves will deny millions of South Africans access to essential services and dismantle the developmental role of the state.
Ndhlela warned that South Africa is 'on the brink of governance collapse,' citing the GNU's failure to lawfully adopt a budget for 2025/2026, which he said has plunged the economy into instability and tax chaos.
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