MK Party, Economic Freedom Fighters Reject Enoch Godongwana’s Budget 3.0

• Different political parties shared their views on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's third budget speech
• Godongwana announced that the VAT remains at 15% and also announced increases for social grants and the Department of Education
• The Economic Freedom Fighters rejected the budget speech, and the MK Party said Godongwana repeated the same words the African National Congress has been repeating for three decades

Tebogo Mokwena, a Briefly News current affairs journalist in Johannesburg, South Africa, has covered policy changes, cabinet reshuffles, the State of the Nation Address, Parliament and Parliamentary committees, politician-related news and elections at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News for over seven years.

CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE — The Economic Freedom fighters (EFF) and The MK Party slammed Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's latest budget speech which he delivered on 21 May 2025. He has been accused of delivering an anti-employment and lacklustre budget. The African Christian Democratic Party welcomed the speech.

Political parties weigh in on budget speech

The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) reacted to the speech on Newzroom Afrika's @newzroom405 X account. The ACDP's Member of Parliament Steve Swart said the party was concerned about the drop in economic growth. He said that he was happy that there was no increase in VAT or personal taxes. However, he called for a continued investigation into wasteful expenditure.

View the X video:

MK Party slams speech

The MK Party's MP Brian Molefe rejected the speech. He said that what Godongwana did was deliver a speech that the African National Congress (ANC) have been delivering for the last 30 years. He said there were no bold interventions to deal with unemployment, poverty and inequality.

View the X video here:

EFF rejects reductions announced in the speech

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) rejected the speech. In a statement posted on its @EFFSouthAfrica X account, the party said the speech was the weakest among the three speeches that he delivered. This was after he postponed the first speech to 12 March. The second speech was also rejected.

The Red Berets criticised Godongwana for the R28 billion non-interest reduction in spending in education, health, social development and the criminal justice system. These cuts, the EFF said, confirm that the state's ability has been weakened. It also called Godongwana out for the revision of economic growth from 1.8% to 1.4%.

Read the X statement here:

What did Godongwana say in the speech?

Godongwana announced that VAT remained at 15%. He also said the general fuel levy would increase. This was after the Western Cape High Court set the VAT increase aside and ordered that Godongwana table a new budget. He said the new budget would need to propose new tax measures and raise R20 billion because of the absence of the VAT increase.

Parliament to release the cost of the 2 failed budgets

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Parliament is expected to release the full costs of the two budget speeches that failed. The Speaker of Parliament, Thoko Didiza, said Parliament would comply with the request.

the EFF asked for a cost analysis of the money spent on the speeches. This was after Natasha Ntlangwini from the Red Berets raised the alarm that R1.4 million was spent on the speeches.

Source: Briefly News