DA calls on Nene to reverse VAT increase

The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Tuesday said it was cautiously optimistic about the reappointment of Nhlanhla Nene as South Africa’s finance minister and called on him to reverse the “disastrous decision” by his predecessor, Malusi Gigaba, to increase VAT to 15%, among other tax increases. “On February 20, a day before Gigaba delivered his radically anti-poor budget speech, I presented the DA’s budget preview identifying a ‘six-pack’ of challenges along with proposals to address them,” said Alfred Lees, DA shadow Deputy Minister of Finance.