Cape Town — Opposition parties have given a damning assessment of the budget speech delivered by Finance Minister, Enoch Gondongwana, labelling it as ‘uninspiring’.
According to Democratic Alliance (DA) MP, Dion George, the budget speech did not have any sort of concrete plan in place to solve the serious problems facing the country, such as load shedding and combat corruption, The Citizen said.
“The budget was an indication of a panicking ANC government that has no plan to accelerate economic growth, resolve relentless blackouts, stabilise debt, reign in runaway expenditure, support vulnerable South Africans and combat corruption”. George said.
George added that the government was looking for private-public partnerships to rebuild the crumbling infrastructure, but also noted no plan to fast-track the initiative. There appeared to be no further direct bailouts to state-owned enterprises and no additional funds allocated to the “doomed NHI”, while load shedding has also negatively impacted revenues.
📺 DA Shadow Minister of Finance Dr Dion George reacts to the uninspiring Budget Speech, saying Finance Minister Godongwana prioritised the ANC rather than easing the burden on vulnerable citizens.
Only the DA’s plan can rescue SA and build a growing economy for job creation.… pic.twitter.com/hEf9A1z6rE
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) February 21, 2024
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ActionSA’s Herman Mashaba called the budget “uninspiring”. “The ruling party lacks the political will to cut funding from non-strategic programmes, such as the R3.7 billion VIP protection budget. The economy needs urgent, innovative interventions to get us back on track.”
According to FF Plus leader Pieter Groenewald said the people of South Africa ought to not be misled by Godongwana’s presentation, saying the tax hike for companies will drive away investment, SowetanLIVE reported.
“People must not be misled by the fact that there was no increase in taxes and fuel levy. There was no adjustment when it comes to the brackets of personal income tax, that means people are going to pay more tax if they receive any increase in their salaries.”
“The announcements made as far as the FF Plus is concerned, which is quite troublesome, is the fact that there will be a universal income tax for companies of at least 15% on their profits. That is not going to encourage further investment for even local businesses.” he added.
The Budget Speech presented by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana today is uninspiring and continues with the misguided spending priorities of the uncaring ruling party.https://t.co/JStDu1241e
As a result of their failed governance, South Africa is now unable to direct…
— ActionSA (@Action4SA) February 21, 2024
UDM deputy president Nqabayomzi Kwankwa slammed the budget presentation as a gimmick by the ANC-led government to garner support before the polls.
“What are we going to do with half a per cent growth, with all the socioeconomic needs that the country has? We must consider that they’re trying to move an elections budget, that’s why they did not increase the fuel levy as they’ve always done in the past.”
“That is why they decided to increase social grants by R100, but there’s a catch to it — they are going to get part of it before elections and part of it they will get after elections, depending on whether they vote for the ruling party,” he said.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
