Cape Town — The South African Communist Party (SACP) expressed its disappointment with its tripartite alliance member, the African National Congress (ANC) for failing to consult the party about the National Budget.
As South Africans prepared for the first Budget Speech under the Government of National Unity (GNU), Parliament sprung a surprise when it announced the Budget Speech would be postponed due to internal disagreements regarding a 2% VAT increase.
The SACP’s Alex Mashilo told Newzroom Afrika during a panel discussion that the party was not involved in any consultations regarding the budget.
“The SACP is in alliance with the ANC and Cosatu. There is a problem there. You cannot have the type of consultation we have read in the media between the ANC, or the minister of finance with the DA and there has been no consultation within our alliance.,” Mashilo said.
“That is a problem. Now, when you look at the responses of these political parties starting with the DA which seems to have been relied upon, on the basis that if it brings its 21 percent, then there is 60 percent and that could undermine minority parties in the government – that DA proves to be unreliable to a policy agenda that the ANC thought they (DA) would be with them,” he added.
Mashilo said the DA would be met with serious confrontations regarding its “anti-worker” agenda.
“The DA is going to be caught with serious surprises. Its macro-economic policies and budget expectations are anti-workers and what it has tried to do is to elevate the point that we and other political parties have elevated – on the VAT while behind the scenes they are driving a serious anti-worker agenda. They have unleashed a machinery against themselves which they are about to see in the coming weeks,” he said.
According to IOL, the Democratic Alliance led the way in opposition to the proposed 2% VAT increase that was allegedly in the budget proposals. Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said the delay was not due to one party’s opposition, but rather a collective decision taken by the Cabinet.
She said it was wrong to think the DA forced the postponement and said that ANC ministers also opposed the proposed increase.
Some political parties claimed that they had only known of the tax increase on Wednesday morning, hours ahead of the planned tabling of the Budget in Parliament. However, Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana said he had indicated to parties two weeks ago that tax increases were imminent, although in this meeting he had not disclosed the extent of the increase in VAT.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
