The VAT betrayal: how SA’s political charlatans sold out the people

UNFORGIVABLE

- VISVIN REDDY

WHEN the ANC announced plans to increase VAT in 2025, it struck a dagger into the heart of every struggling South African.

VAT — a tax that punished the poor for simply surviving — was once again being weaponised to protect the rich and punish the working class.

Today, the so-called “leaders” of South Africa's political parties stand exposed, naked before the nation, stripped of their empty rhetoric and false promises.

The VAT saga has laid bare their treachery, their hypocrisy, and their unforgivable betrayal of the very people they swore to serve.

The real impact of VAT on the poor

Let's be clear. VAT is not just another tax. It is a tax on survival. When the government raises VAT, it increases the price of bread, milk, school shoes and bus fare — essentials that millions of South Africans already struggle to afford.

VAT doesn’t ask if you are rich or poor. It strikes hardest at the empty pockets of the working class, pensioners and the unemployed.

In a country where over 18 million people depend on social grants, unemployment has soared to over 32% and more than 55% of citizens live below the poverty line, a VAT increase is economic violence.

And yet, knowing all this, the ANC still proposed a VAT increase of up to 3% in internal discussions — a brutal attack on the most vulnerable.

Only a massive public outcry forced them to reduce the immediate increase to 0.5%.

Had the ANC still held its old majority, the VAT increase would have sailed through Parliament, unchallenged. It was the entry of the MK Party into Parliament that weakened the ANC's iron grip.

But even then, the betrayal was only beginning.

The fiscal framework farce