Civil society organisations are calling for President Ramaphosa to censure Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana following comments made by the Minister in the Sunday Times on 9 March 2025. These comments exposed the Minister’s lack of regard for the democratic process and the Constitution. In making them he has misled the public, sought to pit the poor against each other, and attempted to use the press to secure National Treasury’s preferred policy outcome over the will of Cabinet.
Comments are an affront to democratic process
The National Budget is the most important legislation that the government passes each year. It determines how resources are allocated in our society, and it has a profound impact on the lives of everybody in South Africa. Minister Godongwana asserted that he is not required to consult on the budget outside of ANC leadership, due to market sensitivity, and that ideally he should consult as few people as possible. This is openly contemptuous of his responsibility to the ANC’s coalition partners, those who voted for them, the expertise of government departments, and our participatory democracy.
Misleading the nation in order to get the policy outcome he wants
The Minister and National Treasury have long been ideologically opposed to the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. This grant is the bulwark that staves off hunger for eight million direct recipients and their sixteen million dependents. National Treasury has sought to remove it from the budget on numerous occasions and successfully limited its scope through barriers that the Pretoria High Court has deemed unlawful. Having lost the battle within government to dismantle the SRD grant, the Minister chose to solicit a press interview to preempt and circumvent government policy.
The Minister did this by misleading the public, arguing that the VAT increase was “necessary” because the SRD grant required an unplanned budget allocation. The Minister remarked: “If you allowed me to cut the SRD, I wouldn’t increase anything. I’m faced with increased expenditures which are not in the budget.” Setting aside the presumption of unilateralism that this phrasing reveals (“If you allowed me to, I wouldn’t”, as if the Minister were not part of an administration, let alone one which includes multiple parties), it is categorically untrue that the SRD grant is not in the budget. Treasury Director General Duncan Pieterse confirmed to the Parliamentary Finance Committee on 31 October 2024 that the SRD grant was “included as a provisional allocation in the fiscal framework’s baseline” for 2025/26, meaning it is budgeted for, and it has been in the budget for the past five years. It is by no means a new or unanticipated expense.
To single out a specific area of expenditure—one which gives effect to a constitutional right—as the reason why the government is facing fiscal constraints is akin to saying ‘if only we didn’t have to buy shoes we wouldn’t be poor’. It is meaningless, and all it illustrates is that the Minister has a particular dislike for the SRD grant and has no reservation in undermining the work and policies of the Department of Social Development, and the commitments made by the President.
Playing the needs of the poorest off against one another
What Minister Godongwana’s remarks amount to is an ultimatum: Choose between cuts to basic services like health and education, a significant hike in living costs (via VAT), or the life-saving SRD grant. In each scenario, it is the poorest that are being asked to make an impossible sacrifice.
As our organisations have repeatedly submitted—these are not our only options. There are better, fairer, and much less destructive alternatives. These include building the state’s capacity to collect existing taxes—as SARS Commissioner Edward Keiswetter has called for; drawing further on the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account; removing unnecessary tax breaks and subsidies which benefit the wealthy such as retirement fund contribution rebates and corporate tax incentives; raising VAT on luxury goods; reversing the Corporate Income Tax rate cut, from 27% to 28%; dealing with unnecessary and wasteful expenditure; and implementing a wealth tax. None of these options are completely frictionless—but they are effective and much, much less painful than increasing the VAT burden. Implementing just a couple of these measures combined with a coherent, expansionary, and inclusive public investment plan would help to improve investor confidence, reduce the cost of South Africa’s debt, and help put the country on a sustainable growth path.
Risk of economic instability
We believe the Minister’s comments, given exclusively to the largest newspaper in the country just three days before the new budget is scheduled to be announced, are not only calculated but also highly irresponsible. The Minister frequently claims that his primary concern is market stability, but he is fully aware that these statements have the potential to create further uncertainty and instability. They are made in an attempt to maintain the upper hand in closed-door negotiations. Such a lack of responsibility must be met with proportionate censure. The Minister and National Treasury were given the opportunity to fix the crisis they created on 19 February, but their mismanagement of the budget process again threatens to plunge the country into another deep crisis.
Abuse of office
Given the myriad available pathways, holding these unacceptable choices over our heads is fundamentally misleading and dishonest. We must see the Minister’s comments over the weekend for what they are, a last-ditch attempt to preserve his campaign of austerity by ransoming the SRD grant and the livelihoods and dignity of those who benefit from the grant, to force through an unpopular and anti-poor tax increase. Politicians must be held accountable for their actions, and any Minister who preempts democratic policy processes in order to impose their preferred path by misleading the public and threatening the rights of the most vulnerable has abused their office and the trust we place in them.
The President must ensure that the Minister of Finance shows due regard for democratic processes and mandates, and is appropriately censured. The government as a whole must end the era of impunity for National Treasury, which, together with the Minister of Finance, must not be allowed to act unilaterally and defy the collective will of government.
[ENDS]
Endorsed by the following organisations (as of 13:00 on 11 March 2025):
- Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ)
- #PayTheGrants
- The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU)
- Black Sash
- Alternative Information and Development Centre (AIDC)
- My Vote Counts
- Extinction Rebellion (Gauteng)
- Makause Community Development Forum ( MACODEFO)
- Kopanang Africa Against Xenophobia (KAAX)
- Green Hope Foundation
This list will be updated as more organisations add their support.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Dalli Weyers | IEJ | dalli.weyers@iej.org.za | 082 460 2093
Amaarah is a Junior Programme Officer in the Rethinking Economics for Africa project. She is currently studying towards her Masters in Applied Development Economics at Wits University. 
Dr James Musonda is the Senior Researcher on the Just Energy Transition at the IEJ. He is also the Principal Investigator for the Just Energy Transition: Localisation, Decent Work, SMMEs, and Sustainable Livelihoods project, covering South Africa, Ghana, and Kenya.
Dr Basani Baloyi is a Co-Programme Director at the IEJ. She is a feminist, development economist and activist. She gained her research experience while working on industrial policy issues in academia, at the Centre For Competition, Regulation and Economic Development (CCRED) and Corporate Strategy and Industrial Development (CSID) Unit.
Dr Andrew Bennie is Senior Researcher in Climate Policy and Food Systems at the IEJ. He has extensive background in academic and civil society research, organising, and activism. Andrew has an MA in Development and Environmental Sociology, and a PhD in Sociology on food politics, the agrarian question, and collective action in South Africa, both from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Juhi holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Sociology from Wits University and an Honours degree in Development Studies from the University of Cape Town. Her current research focus is on social care regimes in the South African context, with a particular focus on state responses to Early Childhood Development and Long-Term Care for older persons during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her other research areas include feminist economics, worlds of work and the care economy.
Bandile Ngidi is the Programme Officer for Rethinking Economics for Africa. Bandile has previously worked at the National Minimum Wage Research Initiative and Oxfam South Africa. He holds a Masters in Development Theory and Policy from Wits University. He joined the IEJ in August 2018. Bandile is currently working on incubating the Rethinking Economics for Africa movement (working with students, academics and broader civil society). 
Liso Mdutyana has a BCom in Philosophy and Economics, an Honours in Applied Development Economics, and a Masters in Applied Development Economics from Wits University. His areas of interest include political economy, labour markets, technology and work, and industrial policy. Through his work Liso aims to show the possibility and necessity of economic development that prioritises human wellbeing for everyone.
Joan Stott holds a Bachelor of Business Science in Economics and a Master’s in Economics from Rhodes University. She brings to the IEJ a wealth of experience in public finance management, policy development, institutional capacity-building, and advancing socioeconomic and fiscal justice.
Siyanda Baduza is a Junior Basic Income Researcher at IEJ. He holds a BSc in Economics and Mathematics, an Honours degree in Applied Development Economics, and is currently completing a Master’s degree in Applied Development Economics at the University of the Witwatersrand. Siyanda’s research focuses on the impacts of social grants on wellbeing, with a particular focus on the gendered dynamics of this impact. His interests include applied micro-economics, policy impact evaluation, labour markets, gender economics, and political economy. He is passionate about translating economic research into impactful policy.
Shikwane is a Junior Programme Officer at IEJ focusing on civil society support and global governance in the G20. He has a background in legal compliance, IT contracting and student activism. He holds degrees in Political Studies and International Relations, as well as an LLB, from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Dr Tsega is a Senior Researcher focusing on Women’s Economic Empowerment within the G20. She examines gender equity in economic policy, with expertise in food systems and small enterprise development. She holds a PhD in development studies from the University of the Western Cape, an MA in Development Economics, and degrees in Development Studies and Economics from UNISA and Addis Ababa University.
Nerissa is a G20 Junior Researcher at IEJ, focusing on advancing civil society priorities within the G20 framework. She bridges data, research, and policy to advance inclusive economic frameworks. She is completing a Master’s in Data Science (e-Science) at the University of the Witwatersrand, and holds Honours and Bachelor’s Degrees in International Relations with distinction. She has worked as a Research Fellow at SAIIA and a Visiting Research Fellow at Ipea in Brazil.
Dr Mzwanele is a Senior Researcher supporting South Africa’s G20 Sherpa with policy research. He holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Birmingham and an MSc from the University of the Witwatersrand. His work covers open macroeconomics, trade, finance, and higher education policy, and he has published widely on inequality, unemployment, household debt and higher education curriculum reform.
Kamal is the Project Lead for IEJ’s G20 work, focusing on sovereign debt and development finance. He holds a BComm (Hons) in Applied Development Economics from the University of the Witwatersrand and an Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters in Economic Policies for the Global Transition. He has worked with SCIS, UNCTAD and co-founded Rethinking Economics for Africa.