By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) marched to the National Treasury in Pretoria, to celebrate the reversal of the Value-Added Tax (VAT) increase.
The EFF credited its efforts in Parliament and the courts for blocking the proposed half-percentage point increase in VAT, a move it argues would have disproportionately affected the country’s poor and working-class citizens.
The march began at the Union Buildings and proceed to the National Treasury, just two days before Finance Minister Enoch Gogongwana is scheduled to table his third national budget of the year in Cape Town.
Several streets in the CBD have been closed to traffic, with a heavy police presence throughout the inner city.
EFF leader Julius Malema urged his people to continue pushing to ensure that the party becomes the only hope for the people.
“Let’s build lower structures that work. Build the EFF – it will look after you.
“Look at the EFF taking care of you with just 9%, imagine if you put zero next to that 9%. What will happen to this country? What will happen to this continent?
“We are the only ones who can liberate black people,” he said.
Malema used his speech to blame the Treasury but more importantly to deliver a memorandum of demands to the institution to ensure an end to this “unjust regime”.
This also included implementing a budget that is for the people, that puts human dignity, racial justice, and structural transformation at the centre of economic planning.
“We want Treasury to withdraw from the IMF and generate money – not to service debt, but to serve ordinary people on the ground,” he added.
It is anticipated that government debt will reach more than R6.05 trillion, or 75.5% of GDP, in 2025/26. Treasury said debt-service costs would reach R388.9 billion in the current financial year.
Over the medium term, the main budget deficit will decline from 4.7% of GDP in 2024/25 to 3.4% in 2027/28, with the primary budget surplus rising to 1.8%of GDP.
Fullview understands that about R60 billion has been cut from the spending side of the budget, which will be a tough pill to swallow for departments.
Spending has either been cut outright or deferred to a later date. This means that some projects and developments may be placed on hold.
This includes spending in health, infrastructure and transport, with sources warning South Africans that projects involving clinics, roads and trains may take longer to execute as a result.
One area that is unlikely to get the chop is money given to the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
National Treasury has piled billions more into SARS to help commissioner Edward Kieswetter boost collections and thus the country’s revenue.
SARS overshot the MTBPS collection target by almost R9 billion in 2024, with the hope that additional resources will allow the taxman to do this again.
Since April, South Africa’s expected GDP growth has dropped significantly from 1.5%-2.0% for 2025, to just 1.0% to 1.5%.
This means the country – and households and businesses – will remain under significant economic strain, impacting tax collections. The budget is now expected to sail through parliament with strong majority support.