Actionsa Fumes As Godongwana Confirms Da Deputy Minister Contributed To Budget

ActionSA has criticised the Democratic Alliance DA for its kamikaze-style attacks on the budget process despite the involvement of Deputy Minister Ashor Sarupen, who is from the DA, in the same process.

In a recent parliamentary reply, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana confirmed that he consulted both Deputy Ministers in the aborted 19 February budget.

The cabinet postponed this budget following disagreements in the government of national unity GNU on its proposed two percentage-point value added tax VAT increase .

ActionSA member of Parliament Alan Beesly asked Godongwana if he had consulted his two Deputy Ministers in the preparation of the initial budget.

In his reply, which X user Dagan Naesen shared on Monday 21 April, the Minister confirmed his Deputies involvement in a series of deliberations and preparations.

As such, they were part of the internal budget preparation processes such Tax Policy briefing on projected revenues, Ministerial discussion with the Budget Team and Operation Vulindlela Phase 2 briefing, he added.

They were also involved in other formal and statutory processes such as the Budget Forum, the Budget Council and the Ministerial Committee on the Budget.

In addition, the Deputy Ministers of Finance were also involved in the speech writing process, by way of giving inputs and commenting on different versions of the draft speech until its finalisation.

Godongwana eventually presented a revised budget in Parliament that still included a VAT hike, albeit a lower one of 0.5 percentage points. The DA opposed the increase and voted against the fiscal framework.

It is also challenging Parliaments adoption of the fiscal framework vote in court and is seeking an interdict against the hike, which is set to take effect on 1 May 2025.