Africa-Press – South-Africa. The DA and ActionSA had mixed reactions to the Budget Speech, although they both welcomed the introduction of tax rebates for solar panels announced by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.
Godongwana delivered his second Budget Speech on Wednesday at City Hall in Cape Town.
The DA said there was nothing “bold” about his speech, which instead, added to the country’s debt problem and offered no solution for overly taxed and vulnerable South Africans.
In a statement, its spokesperson on finance, Dion George, said Godongwana missed an opportunity to encourage economic growth, attract foreign capital, and strengthen domestic savings by increasing tax-free savings limits.
He called the minister’s plans to “bail out” Eskom, the SA Post Office, SAA, and Land Bank irresponsible and a misallocation of funds.
“The DA firmly opposes these bailouts, as they have failed to stimulate corporate revitalisation and growth necessary to address the underperformance and financial struggles of these entities,” said George.
He added Godongwana did not mention the new electricity minister and offered no solid plan to resolve the current energy crisis.
“It also lacks any coherent plan to restructure Eskom and address the energy crisis. This move will only increase interest payments even further, without any incentive for Eskom to become more efficient,” George said.
The party, however, welcomed the incentives to provide solar panels through tax rebates and efforts to boost the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), police, and Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
ActionSA’s Athol Trollip also welcomed the minister’s effort to provide solar panels through tax rebates and introduce a tax relief plan for food producers.
Trollip welcomed the government’s plan to take over Eskom’s R254-billion debt.
He said the ANC was responsible for the “tough choices” Godongwana made due to corruption and mismanagement.
Trollip added fundamental reforms and tackling crime and corruption were necessary to “ignite long-term economic growth”.
“It is only through fundamental reforms that long-term economic growth will be ignited that will improve the lives of our people, and the ANC has consistently shown that it is too preoccupied with internal power struggles than making the required decisions.”
He said the recent comments made by outgoing Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter about the Just Energy Transition money proved corruption needed to be tackled to ensure public entities benefitted from additional funding.
The party expressed concern over the government’s commitment and the “insufficient allocation of resources” in crime and corruption-fighting institutions such as the NPA and SIU, which are at risk of being grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force.
“It is, however, only the South African electorate and taxpayers that can ultimately decide whether they will tolerate any more budgets tabled by the ANC. The opportunity to determine this is coming next year in the national and provincial government elections,” Trollip added.
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