EFF Welcomes Tax Relief but Slams Enoch Godongwana’s Budget Speech

• The Economic Freedom Fighters commented on the budget speech and said the speech failed to appreciate the economic crisis in South Africa
• The Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, said tax relief prevented him from increasing taxes
• He delivered his budget speech in Parliament on 25 February 2026 and announced an increase in tax revenues

Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News’ Deputy Head of Current Affairs, based in Johannesburg, South Africa, has covered policy changes, cabinet reshuffles, the State of the Nation Address, parliamentary proceedings, and politician-related news, as well as elections, at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News for over seven years.

PARLIAMENT — The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) reacted after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that personal income tax brackets and medical credits have been adjusted. He made the announcement when he delivered the budget speech in Parliament on 25 February 2026. The EFF, while welcoming the tax relief, was not happy with the speech.

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Godongwana said that the minimum tax-paying threshold has been raised to R245,100 per year. He added that medical tax credits will increase to R376 from R364 for the first two members. Godongwana added that 1.3 million new taxpayers have contributed almost R5 billion to net revenue.

Additional tax measures

Godongwana announced that the government will be proposing additional tax measures to provide financial relieve on households. He remarked that this was because collections for VAT, Corporate Income Tax, and Dividends Tax improved, although personal income tax and specific excise duty collections could fall short of the previous year’s budget projections.

Godongwana said that the South African Revenue Service has collected more than R21 billion in tax revenue, fulfilling its promise to increase tax collections. He pointed out that he would have had to increase taxes if revenue collection fell short.

Economic Freedom Fighters react to the speech

The EFF posted a statement on its @EFFSouthAfrica X account. The party welcomed the adjustment of personal income tax brackets. The Red Berets said this was a much-needed relief to highly indebted households, in particular black workers. However, this was the only part of the speech the party welcomed. The party rejected the rest of the speech. The EFF, which earlier warned Godongwana against making unnecessary increases, rejected the speech and called it a fictional budget that relied on different creative accounting methods to achieve a meaningless fiscal anchor.

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“The budget tabled by the Minister of Finance and the National Treasury fails to appreciate the degree of economic crisis facing South Africa. It is based on microwaved economic success and is out of touch with the realities of a failing economy and continuing deindustrialisation,” the party said.

Read the full statement on X here:

SANDF and BMA to receive boost: Godongwana

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Godongwana announced that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the Border Management Authority (BMA) will receive a major funding boost. He allocated R990 million to the BMA, which is aimed at strengthening border management, improving enforcement, and addressing illegal immigration.

The SANDF’s budget will increase from R268.2 billion to R291.2 billion. He added that another R2.7 billion will be added to the defence during the medium term to improve operations.

Source: Briefly News