BUSINESS NEWS - With a week to go before Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana finally tables a reworked 2025 National Budget next Wednesday, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has insisted there is no agreement yet on the budget between the main government of national unity (GNU) partners.
“Constructive discussions on the budget are ongoing. There is no agreement yet, but we are working towards a resolution by 12 March,” Steenhuisen said in a post on X on Tuesday.
His comments came after The Presidency issued a statement following a special cabinet meeting on Monday (3 March) to try to resolve the budget deadlock, which largely centres on the ANC and National Treasury pushing for some form of Vat (value-added tax) hike.
The most telling part of The Presidency statement was at the end, which read: “With the conclusion of the Cabinet input process into the Budget, the Minister of Finance and National Treasury are now set to finalise the budget and table it before parliament on the 12th of March 2025.”
In an unprecedented move, Godongwana had to call off his budget speech on 19 February after the cabinet and GNU partners did not agree on a controversial proposal to hike SA’s Vat rate by two percentage points, to 17%.
The DA and other political parties have been vehemently opposed to a Vat hike or other major tax increase proposals, such as a wealth tax.
However, the DA is the ANC’s main ‘partner’ in the GNU.
Read more on Caxton publication, The Citizen
‘We bring you the latest Garden Route, Hessequa, Karoo news’
