By Enyichukwu Enemanna
John Steenhuisen, leader of South Africa’s second-largest party in the coalition government, the Democratic Alliance (DA), has instituted legal action before the Western Cape High Court challenging the passage of the 2025 budget.
The national budget was passed in parliament on Wednesday after facing opposition from different parties, with 194 members voting in favour of the fiscal framework and 182 against it.
The DA is opposing a proposal in the budget that seeks to raise VAT by one percentage point spread over two years, arguing that it would hit the poorest hard.
The largest party in the coalition, the African National Congress (ANC), narrowly passed the budget with the backing of small political parties, including ActionSA, Build One South Africa, the Patriotic Alliance, the IFP, the UDM, and others.
The DA, FF Plus, EFF, MK Party, and several other parties voted against it.
“It is unthinkable that ActionSA has handed this VAT hike to the ANC on a platter, and it is both unlawful and unconstitutional how parliament processed the budget,” Steenhuisen said.
The suit instituted on Thursday challenges the legality of the passage, urging the court to block the implementation of a value-added tax increase, a development widening the rift in the ruling coalition.
The DA says the adoption by a parliamentary committee of a report supporting the fiscal framework did not follow due process.
There are fears that the DA may quit the multi-party government formed last year after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994.
The DA is expected to make a decision on its continued participation in government in the coming days.
Helen Zille, chairperson of the DA’s federal council, said the party was seeking an interdict to stop South Africa’s tax service from implementing the 0.5% increase to VAT on 1 May.
“This interdict request is based on our legal challenge to suspend the finance minister’s announcement of the VAT hike and overturn Parliament’s adoption of the Fiscal Framework,” she said.
