#Budget2017: Tangible outcomes needed, says parties

Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan. Picture: REUTERS/Ruben Sprich

Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan. Picture: REUTERS/Ruben Sprich

Published Feb 22, 2017

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Cape Town – Parties in the National Assembly have called for a Budget that will ramp up growth and have tangible outcomes.

The Budget speech by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on Wednesday comes without the anticipated swearing in of Brian Molefe as an MP on Tuesday.

House chairperson Thoko Didiza announced the swearing in of two ANC MPs, but not Molefe.

ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu later confirmed that Molefe had not yet been sworn in.

“Parliament will tell you when. When he is sworn in the presiding officers will tell the House," he said.

Regarding the Budget Speech on Wednesday, Mthembu said they would wait for Gordhan to tell the nation how he had allocated funding.

ACDP leader Rev Kenneth Meshoe said the infighting in the ANC had to stop, and Gordhan needed to be left alone to do his job.

He said the minister had done a sterling job in his time at the Treasury, but they were concerned about the slow growth in the economy.

UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said the three-year Budget cycle was not working for South Africa, and must be scrapped.

“Let’s go back to the old system of budgeting for the year,” he said.

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) said on Tuesday it hoped Gordhan would not increase corporate and personal income tax.

Sacci said it would like to see how “radical economic transformation” would be interpreted in the Budget.

The chamber said it believed that increasing corporate and personal income tax would be regressive as this could only serve to increase costs and discourage expansion through capital investment in productive capacity.

Politics Bureau

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