Dear Editor
All eyes are will be on Minister Godongwana on Wednesday next week, to make meaningful and fundamental cuts to the taxes government collects from food. The rising cost of food is out of control.
This past week I handed a comprehensive memorandum of demands to the Ministry of Finance in Pretoria, demanding that VAT be cut on a much bigger basket of basic foods in the Mid Term Budget speech next Wednesday.
As yet, Minister Godongwana has not acknowledged or responded to these demands.
It is now just 5 days until the Mid Term Budget, and the pressure on Minister Godongwana grows each day as people struggle to put food on the table.
For all people who are buckling under the enormous rises in food prices we are looking to Minister Godongwana to address the nation on Wednesday and provide food cost relief. It is a simple ANC government intervention that would have a great impact on nutrition for millions of people.
The memorandum I handed in to the Finance Ministry also demanded the scrapping of the unnecessary and exorbitant taxes on fuel, which inflate the price of fuel by almost R6 a litre. And the DA memorandum also demanded that the R50 million which the ANC Government intends to donate to Cuba, be cancelled and spent here on alleviating hunger and poverty.
The clock is ticking for Minister Godongwana. Five days to go, and hungry South Africans deserve fundamental food cost interventions from the ANC government next Wednesday in the Mid Term Budget.
Regards
Dr Dion George MP
DA Shadow Minister of Finance
