AG considers investigating implications of budget postponement

Minister Enoch Godongwana delivering the 2024 budget speech.

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The office of the Auditor General (AGSA) says it is considering the request from the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) to investigate the financial implications of the budget speech postponement last month.

This is after MKP wrote to the Auditor General requesting an investigation, claiming that the budget delay has cost the country millions of rands and contributed to fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

“It is important to know that the AGSA conducts annual regulatory audits on the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa and all government departments. If any material irregularities are identified during the audits, they are reported in the Audit Report of the institutions, which are tabled publicly in parliament. It is equally important to note that the AGSA will continue to carry its constitutional mandate in a fair manner without fear, favour or prejudice on all on all its audits,” says Head of Communication at the Auditor General, Harold Maloka.

Minister Enoch Godongwana is expected to deliver the budget speech on 12 March. The budget was postponed after the Government of National Unity (GNU) could not agree on the proposed 2% Value Added Tax.

Various organisations have come out against the proposed VAT increase.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says there are ways for government to recover the revenue it seeks for budget allocations without having to raise any tax.

“We’ve simply given government a variety of options to look at. Some may make sense, some might be quite easy to do, as some of course may not be preferable ideals, but we don’t think the crisis is unmanageable. There really is a shortfall of about R24 billion in a budget of more than R2 trillion. There is space to reprioritise expenditure, there is a need actually, to capacitate Sars to improve tax compliance because you’ve got R800 billion of taxes, existing taxes owed to Sars, to the state and that should really be our number one priority, before we look at other measures,” says Cosatu Parliamentary Coordinator, Matthew Parks.