Godongwana defends postponement of budget speech

JOHANNESBURG - Finance minister Enoch Godongwana says the postponement of his budget speech shows that cabinet members are actively engaged in key government matters. 

Godongwana was scheduled to deliver his first budget speech under the Government of National Unity (GNU) on Wednesday, but it was postponed. 

READ: Steenhuisen confirms disagreements over VAT among reasons for budget speech postponement

This is because GNU partners could not agree on a number of proposals, including a two percentage point increase to the Value-Added Tax (VAT). 

Addressing journalists, Godongwana said there’s a good side to the postponement of the budget speech.

"If you asked me as a minister of finance, I like the exercise. It exposes some of the things we have not been doing, to discuss trade-offs. In that sense, cabinet itself is becoming engaging. A budget is a statement of budget when cabinet becomes involved in a detailed discussion, it’s useful for us."