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 unfulfilled 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 not controversial revised Budget now mired in Government of National Unity (GNU) discord. The ANC maintains it will press staying of a coalition vote as the ANC seeks to make a divisive hurdle. Moody’s foresees a compromise, with national debt set to peak in the next fiscal year.

Budget unity is crucial

Reality is such that years of borrowing and a mere 1% growth have left South Africa financially distressed. In absolute terms, the nation is swiftly deindustrialising, and businesses, though buoyed since GNU, must relentlessly strive to de-count the countries costly inefficiencies. That lovely, resilient, innovative, and hard-working South African spirit. The one that saw the so-called Mafia Peter Thiel, David Sachs, Elon Musk… Know the rest of ONE’s pithy pivot.

At this pivotal moment, however, the less is less than a choice a non-solution. Volatility is tough as South Africa finds itself squared in economic and political crosshairs. Facing the world’s poorest power, unity trumps division, especially cautiously. “Don’t poke the Bear”.