Enthusiastic MK Party members marched to the National Treasury as well as to the Reserve Bank in Tshwane on Monday.
This in protest against the looming Value Added Tax (VAT) increase that has been proposed by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and the looming demise of Ithala Bank.
Member of MK Party Gauteng High Command Luther Lebelo told Tshwane Talks that the 2% VAT increase is spearheaded by what he called the Government of National Unity (GNU) that is led by the Democratic Alliance (DA) with the aim of punishing the poor because they hate the poor.
Lebelo said this despite the fact that the DA is on record as being opposed to the VAT increase.
“We are calling for the Reserve Bank to stop the destruction of Ithala Bank, they destroyed VBS and now they want to destroy Ithala and it is clear that they are destroying everything that is black,” said Lebelo.
“If these two demands are ignored, then we are going to call for a national march and bring the whole country to a standstill,” threatened Lebelo.
“We are going to do everything in our power including going to the court of law to stop this apparent attack on black people and the poor,” he said.
“If Vat increases, then prices on our basic foodstuffs are going to increase by 2% and instead of increasing social grants the government is going to increase food prices because this will benefit white companies that hate black people,” said Lebelo.
“We are saying to the government that instead of increasing VAT they must introduce wealth tax and strengthen South African Revenue Services (SARS) to enable it to deal with tax evasion and collect more money.
He said company income tax must be increased to 28% and that the government must stop abusing the poor with the proposed VAT increase.
Copy of a memorandum: