Cabinet rejects Godongwana’s second Budget proposal despite no tax increase – reports

Budget

Cape Town — Following a special Cabinet meeting called by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the reworked budget was rejected despite the removal of the 2% VAT increase.

Ramaphosa called the meeting on Monday to deliberate on the way forward regarding the budget uncertainty, and after Godongwana presented his new Budget, it was rejected as he was told it would not work for the people, IOL reported.

This marks the second time this week that the budget has been rejected, following the rejection of the first Budget which saw the Budget Speech postponed until 12 March.

A Cabinet source said it was not an easy matter to deal with as it has already painted a bad picture of Minister Godongwana. The response was to set up a sub-committee to look into the matter, with the help of the Cabinet. It would be chaired by Deputy President Paul Mashatile.

“The full details will be known … remember this thing is still ongoing and we cannot just speak to it as if decisions have been made,” the report quoted the source as saying.

Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, rejected an X post that she allegedly shared an article from News24 over the rejected budget.

During the discussion, Godongwana told participants that a budget without VAT increases would limit the extent of suggested increases to departments he had originally intended to mention in his speech, the report said.

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Compiled by Matthew Petersen

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