LETTER: Acting like ANC stooge

Gayton McKenzie doesn’t seem to understand the role of the junior partners of the government of national unity (“The DA can grab their ball and leave”, March 12 2025).

He complains about the DA’s opposition to the 2025 budget and the raising of VAT, stating that we should see this as a victory for democracy and coalition politics.

How? The ANC may not have got the VAT increase it wanted, but any increase in VAT is an abject failure. The role of the opposition in the GNU was to hold the incompetent and downright malicious ANC government to account and stop it from more abject looting of our faltering tax base.

Parties should accept nothing less than radical spending cuts. Especially luxury and wasteful spending cuts. There is billions of wasteful expenditure that could be cut to fix the deficit before even touching welfare or critical spending.

McKenzie also seems to think the DA is selfish and conniving for trying to use VAT as a negotiating tactic to get policy concessions in other areas. Yet these are all damaging pieces of legislation.

If the DA managed to eliminate our harshest employment laws, for instance, the economy could produce millions if not billions more in revenue. There would be no need for a VAT hike.

Using VAT as a negotiating tactic would be a worthwhile compromise, not just rolling over and accepting a little bit of cyanide instead of the whole bottle.

I say kudos to the DA for standing firm. And shame on McKenzie for acting like an ANC stooge.

Nicholas Woode-Smith
Cape Town

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