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The civil rights organisation AfriForum is calling on the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, not to dance to the ANC’s tune in delivering the 2025 budget speech. With only one day left before the postponed budget speech is due to be delivered, it is clear that only the ANC is in favour of tax increases, as no consensus on the budget has yet been made public.

AfriForum, as well as various economists, business leaders and other civil rights groups, have already called for cuts in government spending and wastefulness, rather than trying to increase tax revenues. The organisation has also already made its opposition to the proposed VAT increase known but emphasises that it is not about the specific form of tax increase, but rather whether there will be tax increases or not.

According to Louis Boshoff, campaign officer at AfriForum, South Africa has reached the point where the ANC, and ANC ministers, will have to realise that they cannot determine the country’s economic fate. “The government should actually treat taxpayers with the utmost respect and gratitude for the enormous burden we already bear,” says Boshoff. “The minister must realise that it is not his money that he is working with, it is the hard-earned cents that determine the fate of households.”

Some ways in which expenses can be cut include downsizing the cabinet and government departments, reducing salaries and other benefits to high-ranking government officials, scrapping numerous advertising campaigns, cutting luxuries in terms of travel and catering, and privatising state-owned enterprises.

While the fiscus is emptying, AfriForum is also calling on individuals and communities to join the organisation and help build stateproof solutions for service delivery, safety and public infrastructure.

Issued by AfriForum