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ActionSA says it will hold ANC to account on tax hikes, but the DA's Helen Zille accused the party of being 'deluded' and 'disillusioned'.
ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip at Nieuwmeester Dome in Cape Town. Picture: Gallo Images / Jeffrey Abrahams
ActionSA has defended its role in the passing of the national budget in Parliament, as the DA prepares to challenge the process in court.
The National Assembly adopted the 2025 fiscal framework and revenue proposals by a narrow majority on Wednesday.
However, the adoption included a key recommendation — proposed by ActionSA during a joint finance committee meeting — that the National Treasury must explore alternative revenue streams within 30 days to replace planned increases in value-added tax (VAT) and adjustments to personal income tax brackets.
ActionSA defends its support of budget
Addressing the media on Thursday, ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip emphasised the party’s opposition to tax hikes and hit back at the criticism from some political parties.
“We cannot allow the spread of reductionist, malicious, and outright false narratives that are being perpetrated by bad faith actors.
“These do nothing to reassure South Africans and, in fact, cause more harm, especially when they come from those who offer no practical solutions.
“No amount of petulant, childlike behaviour — such as ripping up speeches or storming off the podium after delivering nothing more than an attack soundbite — will protect South Africans from unfair tax increases,” Trollip said.
ALSO READ: MPs call for vote on budget to be suspended over ‘illegal’ report
He emphasised that the adoption of the fiscal framework was merely the first step in a months long process involving the Appropriations Bill, Division of Revenue Bill, and other related financial legislation.
“The passage of this budget is still a long, long way away, and the people that [the ANC] have convinced to get them out of the hole that they’ve dug for themselves are not going to continue doing that if they show no good faith. So we’re going to hold the ANC to account,” he said.
ActionSA criticises DA
Trollip also criticised the DA’s lack of engagement with other opposition parties on the budget issue.
“What must also be noted about the DA is that ActionSA made genuine efforts to engage with them on the budget.
“Not only were we rebuffed continuously, we were insulted, maligned, and we were treated with such contempt,” he said.
READ MORE: National Assembly passes budget after heated debate
Trollip claimed that the DA engaged only with the ANC rather than consulting its partners in the government of national unity (GNU).
“What is ironic… is that the DA spoke to nobody other than the ANC, making their unreasonable demands. They overplayed their hand. They didn’t engage us.”
He accused the DA of prolonging the budget impasse for its own interests.
“They can try to scapegoat everybody else for the fact that they overplayed their hand and lost. It’s their problem, and they’re not fixing it.”
ActionSA to join GNU?
He further hit back at the DA, pointing out its role in creating the Multi-Party Charter and then partnering with the ANC in the GNU.
“Those people who say we betrayed our electoral commitments are the very people who made the same electoral commitments.
“They’re the very people who formed the Multi-Party Charter initiated through the Moonshot Pact.
“John Steenhuisen is on the record saying that we cannot work with the people who caused the same problems. But now they’re working with the ANC.
“So isn’t it ironic that only the DA can work with the ANC? That’s not only ironic; it is unacceptable.”
READ MORE: Budget 2025 passed with VAT increase while rand tanks
Trollip suggested ActionSA could reconsider its stance if the DA were to leave the GNU.
“If the DA leaves the GNU or if they are kicked out of the GNU, we will reconsider our position because the DA is good at opposition.
“Then the opposition space is suddenly disproportionately full, and the government space might be limited. So we will re-evaluate.
“We will do that, but only once that matter is sorted. We had no conditional agreements or transactional undertakings with the ANC about this.”
DA slams ‘deluded’ parties
Meanwhile, the DA has officially filed an application with the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town.
The party’s federal chairperson, Helen Zille, insisted legal action would not have been necessary if Parliament had handled the matter properly.
“We would have managed to work this issue through parliamentary processes that would not require us to be taking our fallback position, which is going to court,” she said.
READ MORE: ‘Political thuggerism’: Legal action on the cards after budget’s adoption
Zille dismissed claims that the VAT hike could be stopped, calling such beliefs “deluded” and “disillusioned”.
“If ActionSA still believes that they have stopped [the VAT increase], they are living in cloud cuckoo land,” she said.
She emphasised that the DA was not in the GNU for ministerial perks.
“We are not going to play any games that enable the ANC to retain its profligate spending.”
DA challenges budget’s adoption
Zile further explained that the DA’s legal challenge consists of two parts.
The first seeks to have the 1 April finance committee meeting declared null and void due to procedural irregularities and to have the decision to adopt the fiscal framework set aside.
Another relief sought by the DA in part A of its urgent application is to interdict the planned VAT increase on 1 May.
READ MORE: Budget vote fallout: Is the DA’s future in or out of GNU?
In part B, the DA is challenging section 7(4) of the VAT Act, which allows tax rate changes to take effect immediately upon the finance minister’s announcement, even before Parliament has completed the budget process.
“It gives the minister legislative powers to pass laws simply by making a statement, and we know that that is unconstitutional, and we want the court to declare it now,” Zille said.
She stressed that the DA believes it has a strong legal case.
“The DA has been around the block enough to know it never can predict the outcome of a court case, but this is as strong a case as you are likely to get.”
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Zille accused the ANC of acting in bad faith by making “backroom deals” with parties outside the GNU to sideline the DA.
“They were negotiating under the carpet and around the backdoor with other parties and making promises to them to put together another configuration of the GNU.”
She added the party’s federal executive (FedEx) would convene a meeting on Thursday to discuss its future within the GNU.
ANC responds
Meanwhile, the ANC has rejected allegations of political maneuvering in the budget adoption process, saying the adoption of the fiscal framework was not centred around “political point-scoring”.
It maintained that several parties engaged in the process in good faith, “placing the country above narrow interests”.
It added that the finance committee must finalise and submit alternative revenue proposals and expenditure savings within 30 days to address the R28 billion shortfall and potentially suspend the proposed tax increases.
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