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.

“Crucially, we illustrated how we could find R112-billion in savings and asset sales this financial year alone and avoid crippling tax increases. I will forward our proposals to Nene in the earnest anticipation that he will urgently withdraw the draft Rates and Monetary Amounts Bill and amend it to remove all tax increases.”