Dear Editor
The remarks below were delivered this morning by the DA Spokesperson on Finance, Dr Mark Burke MP, in front of the High Court in Cape Town where the DA’s urgent court application to interdict the pending VAT increase will be heard. A recording of this morning’s event can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/live/7QFDB9dnT2c
Some of you in the media might have seen that the DA is now polling as the largest party in South Africa. With the Cape wind blowing and the latest polling, it seems like an appropriate moment to quote a young Bob Dylan.
The times they are a-changing. Part of this change has to do with the ANC’s insistence that we must go down their rapidly aging road that leads nowhere.
We are here today to say that we oppose that road. We oppose this anti-growth, anti-jobs and anti-poor vat based budget.
We oppose a debilitating and bulldozing budget that will lead to further poverty by taking money from people who can’t afford it and giving it to people who don’t know how to use it.
We oppose a bullying budget that will lead to more young people losing hope when they realise they will be poorer than their parents.
We oppose a bleeding budget that will lead to more South Africans wondering why their house value has gone down for another year in a row.
We oppose a blind and blundering budget that will make it more expensive to get to and from the little work left within our borders.
But I want to be clear: we as the DA are not opposed to a workable budget.
We won’t oppose a budget for the sake of it and under all circumstances.
We would lend our support to a budget focussed on:
- infrastructure investment
- no new bailouts
Such a budget had our support until the ANC decided to steamroll a tone deaf budget against our advice and against our collaborative input made in good faith.
And while the DA has assembled an exceptional legal team which is sitting in front of a well-regarded bench of judges, and while we pray for a favourable ruling in court, such victory will only get us so far.
In the end, there is a need for politicians to pierce through privileged pipedream plans and outdated ideology. They need to see the scale of the problem facing our people.
So I want to say to whoever is making decisions in the ANC under whatever soviet sand they’ve stuck their heads into:
How many ears must one party have
Before they can hear people cry?
How many times can you turn your head
Pretending that you just don’t see?
Regards
Dr Mark Burke MP
DA Spokesperson on Finance