In reaction to the national Budget speech postponement on 20 February 2025, Lew Geffen, Chairman of Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty, says it’s gratifying to the business sector to see that the GNU appears – on some level at least – to be working.
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“From the inferences in the brief debate that followed the postponement announcement by the Speaker, a main sticking point for opposition members of the GNU (Government of National Unity) is a 2% VAT increase in the taxation bundle that the Finance Minister would have addressed.
“That beggar’s belief, when less than two weeks ago in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) President Cyril Ramaphosa blithely referenced that nearly half of this country’s entire population is receiving social grants.
“The figure he quoted was around the 45% mark, and that’s the ‘official’ number – not the actual number that would be at least 10% higher – of South Africans living below the poverty line.
“When the interest rate has dropped less than one percentage point off an extended historic high and consumer costs are out of control, this is not the time to be increasing VAT. It’s unconscionable, and business can only applaud GNU members – other than the ANC – for digging in their heels!”
“Systematic pillaging”
Geffen says there’s no other way but “systematic pillaging” to describe the ANC’s decades-long economic approach to South Africa.
“We are losing a massive export edge with access cut off to AGOA. Our farmers will be suffering most of all, but as long as ANC leaders’ egos aren’t dented, they aren’t bothered.
“Business cannot and will not get behind this government and 2025’s budget unless it is a total turn-around from the past three decades. Pro-people or nothing.
“If 12 March 2025 is indeed the new Budget date, the Budget Speech in its entirety will be rejected unless it promotes economic growth and provides a tangible plan to reintegrate this country into the global community. Anything less is unacceptable.”
