Da Opposition To Budget 'has Nothing To Do With The Poor:' Godongwana

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana claims the Democratic Alliances DA opposition to South Africas 2025 budget has got nothing to do with the poor.

DA leader John Steenhuisen announced on Wednesday 12 March that his party would not support the budget in its current form.

The DA is the second-largest member of the government of national unity GNU and its votes in Parliament may be crucial to pass the budget.

The DA made it clear to the ANC African National Congress in the GNU that we would not support any increase in taxes, unless those increases were temporary, and the ANC agreed to a series of major reforms that would grow the economy, create jobs, reduce waste and bring down taxes within three years, Steenhuisen said in a statement .

The ANC refused to agree to these measures, and instead insisted on two likely permanent VAT increases, which cumulatively will increase VAT by 1 over the next two years. As a consequence, the people of South Africa will be poorer, and the future of the government is at risk.

However, in an interview with SABC News on Thursday, Godongwana claimed the DA was using the budget to fight battles related to the National Health Insurance NHI, Basic Education Laws Amendment BELA Act and Expropriation Act.

What is the issue with the DA? My understanding - and I have spoken to the DA myself - the issue for them is that it has nothing to do with the budget, he claimed.

The issue is, they say, they have lost the BELA Bill, NHI and Expropriation Act. They are going to use budget to fight those battles to build cohesion in their own party. It has got nothing to do with the poor.

ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe and Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula made similar claims on Wednesday.

They want to counterpose everything else on battles they have lost. They want to counterpose the budget to BELA, NHI and Expropriation Act, Mantashe told SABC News .