EFF Accuses Enoch Godongwana of Replacing VAT Increase With Fuel Levy

• The Economic Freedom Fighters have rejected the Finance Minister's fuel levy increase, which he announced during the budget speech he delivered on 21 May 2025
• Godongwana said the 16 cents per litre petrol and 15 cents per litre diesel levies will be in effect on 4 June
• The EFF's Treasurer-General Omphile Maotwe said the fuel levy will not generate revenue and accused Godongwana of replacing the VAT increase with it

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.

PARLIAMENT, WESTERN CAPE—The Economic Freedom Fighters' (EFF) Treasurer-General Omphile Maotwe said the party rejected Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's proposed fuel levy which he announced when he delivered his budget speech on 23 May 2025. She accused him of replacing the VAT increase that the Western Cape High Court scrapped with the fuel levy.

EFF rejects fuel levy

Political parties scrutinised the budget when the finance and appropriation committees from the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) convened on 23 May 2025. Godongwana announced that the petrol levy would increase by 15 cents per litre and the diesel levy would increase by 16 cents per litre.

Maotwe said the EFF called for the VAT increase not to be replaced by a fuel levy which she said would generate R4 billion. Maotwe accused Godongwana of converting VAT to a fuel levy.

AA slams fuel levy

The Automobile Association (AA) and the Road Freight Association (RFA) also recently criticised the Treasury for the fuel levy. Eleanor Mavimbela, the AA's spokesperson, said that the levy adjustments will hit South Africans.

She added that citizens are already battling high interest rates, increased food prices and electricity tariffs, and the country's high unemployment rate. She remarked that lower-income households will be more affected by the increase.

During his speech, Godongwana said that the VAT would remain unchanged. However, the Finance Minister remarked that the absence of a VAT increase would reduce the government's ability to fund additional government programmes and projects.

Godongwana's third budget

• Julius Malema, the EFF's president, slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa's trip to the United States as it coincided with the third budget which Godongwana delivered on 21 May
• Political parties including the EFF and the MK Party rejected the budget: the MK Party said Godongwana delivered a speech that the ANC has been delivering for three decades, and the EFF said the speech was the weakest among the three tabled
• The Democratic Alliance welcomed the announcement that Treasury budgeted R1 trillion for infrastructure development and said that the budget was the bedrock for economic development

EFF holds VAT victory march to Treasury

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the EFF hosted a victory march in Pretoria to celebrate the scrapping of the VAT increase. The party marched to the Treasury and handed a memorandum over.

Malema said the march was a victory for the country's poor and working class. It came after the Western Cape High Court ordered that the VAT increase be scrapped.

Source: Briefly News