April’s economic dilemma: SA’s Budget vote and Trump’s tariffs

“APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding / Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing / Memory and desire, stirring / Dull roots with spring rain.” – T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land (1922).

- PHILIPPA LARKIN

T.S. Eliot’s April is the cruellest month unfortunately rings true for South Africa in 2025 – not for spiteful spring, but as we face unprecedented, unpalatable economic challenges, none of which are easy.

This Wednesday, as South Africa moves into April, brings to the table a critical Budget vote. US President Donald Trump’s tariff deadline, and uncertainty over a new US ambassador to our sunny shores. It’s a gauntlet demanding sharp focus from businesses and policymakers.

Parliament will soon vote on Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s controversial revised Budget, now mired in Government of National Unity (GNU) discord. The ANC maintains it will press, starving off a coalition crisis, and the diluted VAT hike remains a divisive hurdle. Moodly’s foresees a compromise, with national debt set to peak in the next fiscal year.

Budget unity is crucial

The real economic scars of borrowing and a mere 1% growth have left South Africa with a compromised, unreliable supply chain, the nation is swiftly deindustrialising, and businesses, though buoyed by the GNU, must relentlessly strive to count the governments costly inefficiencies. That lovely, resilient, innovative, and hard-working South African spirit, is something the so-called Mafia, Peter Thiel, David Sacks, Elon Musk… know little or nothing about.

At this pivotal moment, however, the focus is less a choice than a necessity. Volatile political equity in South Africa finds itself crossed in all areas: economic and political crosshairs. Facing the worst export power now, Trump’s decision, expressed universally: “Caution, Don’t poke the bear”.