Despite the Democratic Alliance being publicly vocal against the Value Added Tax imposed by Treasury, a new Parliamentary reply by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana shows that the party’s deputy finance minister Ashor Sarupen knew about the move.
This has been exposed by ActionSA, who helped the ANC pass the VAT hike and the 2025 Budget. It is expected that the party could join the Government of National Unity.
ActionSA has released damning evidence of the DA drafting of the controversial two percentage point increase in value-added-tax (VAT) for the 2025 Budget.
“ActionSA can today reveal — through a damning parliamentary reply — that the DA’s Deputy Minister of Finance, Ashor Sarupen, was intimately involved in the budget process, particularly in drafting the original February 19 Budget speech which included the deeply unpopular 2 percentage point VAT increase, as well as the subsequent revision to the split 1 percentage point increase, despite their denials,” said the party in a statement.
To back up their claims they revealed proof in the form of a Parliamentary reply.
In a letter written to the finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, ActionSA’s Alan Beesly questioned whether Godongwana consulted with his deputy.
“The minister consulted with both the deputy ministers. They were involved in a series of deliberations and preparations for the budget that was going to be presented in the National Assembly on February 19.
“As such, they were part of the internal budget preparation processes such as Tax Policy briefing on projected revenues… In addition, the deputy ministers were also involved in the speech writing process,” read the reply.
ActionSA accused DA of weaponising the VAT hike in a ‘desperate attempt to salvage its political image’ and wanting to squeeze out more influence in the GNU.
“Far from acting in the public interest, the DA has waged an internal war in the GNU — prioritising extortionist power plays and Ministerial positions in the GNU over the financial well-being of millions of struggling South Africans.
“Their kamikaze-style attacks on the budget process were never about blocking an unjust tax hike— they were a deliberate attempt to sabotage the budget entirely and hold the country’s finances hostage, all in the hope of renegotiating their increasingly fragile position in the GNU. They failed.”
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