Malema vows to continue fighting VAT increase
EFF leader Julius Malema has reiterated his party’s opposition to the increase in value-added tax.
The EFF voted against the adoption of the 2025 budget framework report in the National Assembly last week, which included the contentious 0.5% VAT increase.
The report includes recommendations by ActionSA, calling for the Treasury to propose alternatives to tax hikes within 30 days while scrapping the VAT increase and adjusting personal income tax brackets.
"We are refusing that VAT must increase in South Africa," Malema told supporters at a land reclamation rally in Sophiatown on Sunday.
"We will fight until there is no VAT increase again in South Africa. There will be a budget next year we will fight it again," he vowed, alluding to the proposed 0.5% increase scheduled for next year.
Malema said the EFF considered the VAT increase a regressive tax that unfairly affects the working class and the poor, increasing the cost of essential goods and deepening inequality in the country.
"They (the government) added R20 to your R350 grant, making it R370 but that money will not be enough because they are using VAT to take it away," Malema explained.
Instead of relying on VAT, the party has proposed introducing a wealth tax and raising corporate taxes, especially on multinational companies and the wealthy elite, as a fairer approach to generating public revenue.
Malema also addressed land reform during his speech, warning that lasting peace in South Africa will remain elusive while land ownership continues to be concentrated in the hands of a few.
"We don't want this Expropriation Act that [President Cyril] Ramaphosa signed in the current form, that expropriation says they must be compensated. How do you give criminals money?" he asked.
“The land was taken by force, and it must be returned without compensation. We are not asking for the land — we are coming for it.”
ALSO READ
