JOHANNESBURG – President Cyril Ramaphosa defended Finance Minister Enoch Gondgwana for the Value-Added Tax (VAT) proposed hike saga, saying no Finance Minister would easily raise taxes if they believed there were other alternatives.
Gondogwana came under fire this week following pushback from some within the African National Congress (ANC) and its Government of National Unity (GNU) partners, like the Democratic Alliance, who took a stand against a 2% point VAT increase.
The minister was expected to deliver his budget speech this week, however, it was suddenly called off and postponed to March.
Ramaphosa made his remarks at the sidelines of the first G20 foreign ministers meeting on Thursday.
“No minister of finance ever gets to a point where they will just willy-nilly raise taxes, without getting to a point where they may believe that they have no other alternatives. And I have never met a person who wants to pay more taxes, in our country, and I guess in the world.”
Ramaphosa said South Africans must become more economically conscious, aware and knowledgeable, adding that there are some trade-offs the country must embrace.
“In the end, as South Africans, we therefore need to sit back and say how are we going to get over the budget cuts? How are we going to continue funding all our priorities – the public servants’ salaries, teachers, nurses, the doctors and the SRDs, the grants that we’ve been paying to unemployed people.”
ALSO READ: