Godongwana defends budget, urges MPs to 'keep their eye on the ball'

CAPE TOWN - Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has defended the budget in Parliament and has urged Members of Parliament (MPs) to “keep their eye on the ball”. 

He defened the budget, saying it’s pro-poor, despite much criticism over the proposed VAT increase of 0.5 percentage points each year over two financial years. 

Godongwana and National Treasury were addressing a joint meeting of the appropriations and finance committees from the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces (NCOP) on Friday. 

Minister Godongwana was back in Parliament two days after tabling the budget, including an increase in social grants and a smaller VAT increase.

He told the joint meeting of four of Parliament’s finance committees from the National Assembly and NCOP, that the budget grappled with issues around how it will benefit vulnerable communities. 

“The health budget is so eroded that accruals amount to R21 billion. If all of us here as honourable members, we care about these poor communities whose services have been eroded, it’s going to be important that irrespective of where we stand on a number of things, we keep our eyes on the ball.”

However, Government of National Unity (GNU) partner the Democratic Alliance (DA) is still not convinced and accused Godongwana of acting contrary to the advice of National Treasury on the VAT increase.

ActionSA said there would be no need for a VAT increase if the government could cut the leakages.