EFF leader Julius Malema. (Photo by Gallo Images/Sharon Seretlo)
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has rejected reports claiming his party was negotiating with the ANC over South Africa’s 2025 budget, which was delayed from 19 February to 12 March over a proposed two percentage point increase in VAT.
According to a Sunday Times report, the ANC has warned its biggest government of national unity (GNU) partner, the Democratic Alliance (DA), that if it refused to accept a smaller VAT increase of 0.75 percentage point to 15.75%, the ANC would seek the EFF’s support.
But Malema has refuted this, saying: “No one is talking to us; there has never been any kind of engagement between the EFF and the ANC. We wanted them to present a budget, we said let there be a discussion and the people will decide if they want it or not.”
He made the remarks on Monday afternoon in Tembisa on the sidelines of a celebration for his birthday.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said in February that the proposed VAT hike would “break the back of our economy”.
The DA has instead pushed for sourcing funds from failed or failing programmes. It has suggested immediate cost-cutting measures including a 50% reduction in the government’s advertising budgets, a 33% reduction in travel and catering across all departments, a hiring freeze for non-essential government positions for 12 months and a national audit to root out ghost employees.
Malema said that even though specific conversations between the ANC and the EFF regarding the passing of the tweaked budget were not taking place, there was a “general conversation”.
“The conversation with regard to VAT is not taking the right direction because we have a budget that is more empathetic on spending, but they don’t talk about how they are going to generate money except taxing the poor,” he said
Like the DA, Malema is opposed to the idea of a VAT increase, believing the country should instead be capitalising on its mineral wealth.
“We have got a lot of minerals in this country which can be benefited from, grow the economy and create jobs. We don’t maximise on those things.
“That is the kind of language we should be having a discussion on, not whether to increase VAT [by two percentage points or 0.75 percentage points].”
Cabinet spokesperson Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said at the time of the budget postponement that the decision was a collective one. Various cabinet ministers, including those in the ANC and the DA, had disagreed with the VAT increase.
“We are in trouble,” Malema told the crowd in Tembisa, saying that it remained unclear whether the budget would be tabled on 12 March.
Malema’s party has also made it clear that it will only join the unity government on condition that the DA and Freedom Front Plus are removed.
Other opposition parties such as the uMkhonto weSizwe party and African Transformation Movement said they will not support the revised budget.