Julius Malema Is Not Confident That the New Budget Would Tackle Unemployment in SA

• The president of the Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, said he did not have confidence in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's upcoming budget speech
• Malema spoke ahead of Godongwana's budget speech, which he will deliver on 21 May 2025
• He said that he does not believe that the speech would adequately address the unemployment crisis in the country

Tebogo Mokwena, affiliated with Briefly News, covered local and international relations, political analysis, and interviews in South Africa for Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News during his 10 years of experience.

JOHANNESBURG — The Economic Freedom Fighters president, Julius Malema, said he does not think Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's upcoming budget speech on 21 May 2025 will tackle the high unemployment rate in the country.

Malema speaks on the upcoming budget vote

According to SABC News, Malema was addressing EFF supporters in Pretoria during the party's march celebrating the victory over the VAT increase. The party and its supporters marched to National Treasury and delivered a memorandum.

Malema said that the country will listen to another lie when Godongwana presents the third speech. He said there will not be any plan to grow the economy. Malema added that the state wants to privatise state-owned entities, which will create unemployment.

The EFF is calling on Godongwana to present a pro-poor budget. This was after he delivered two budgets which proposed a VAT increase. Both were rejected due to the VAT increase.

What you need to know about the budget

The Democratic Alliance celebrated the VAT hike reversal, and political parties maintained that the party did not achieve the victory alone

• The Western Cape High Court ordered that Godongwana table a new budget after his second budget was scrapped
• Malema was happy that the VAT hike was scrapped and welcomed the Western Cape High Court's decision to set the budget aside
• ActionSA expects that Godongwana will make empty promises as he presents his third budget
• Parliament is set to release the cost of the two budget speeches, and the EFF believes that it may have cost the state R1,4 million

South Africans discuss Malema's take

Netizens commenting on SABC News' Facebook post shared their views on Malema's expectations for the budget speech.

Sydney Khunmalo said:

"It definitely won't ease SA's job crisis, but perhaps the deepening social crisis could step into a slow gear."

Anton Muller said:

"I don't like this clown, but I'm with him on this one."

Mitchell Kobus said:

"Malema is 100% correct. Fire all the incompetent people sitting in high positions. That will be a good start."

Ernest Dickerson Sitaleka said:

"When Malema becomes president one day, he will be like Ibrahim Traore."

Garreth Steenberg said:

"ANC has no idea or plan to reduce unemployment, only on how to ride the gravy train."

ActionSA slams DA, accuses it of using budget speech

In a related article, Briefly News reported that ActionSA accused the Democratic Alliance of weaponising the budget speech for political points. ActionSA MP Alan Beesley said the party was complicit in planning the budget.

Beesley said that the DA's Ashor Sarupen, who is also the deputy minister of finance, and David Masondo, played a part in the budget that included a VAT increase. He said the party was using the speech for political points.

Source: Briefly News