Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni briefs the media on the outcomes of the recent Cabinet meeting at the Imbizo Media Centre in Cape Town on 27 February 2025. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach) 
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has slammed Afrikaner interest group AfriForum and the union Solidarity’s tour to Washington to meet representatives of US President Donald Trump’s administration, saying the organisations continue to “peddle lies” about South Africa.
“I don’t know why they continue to go and peddle lies,” Ntshavheni told reporters in Parliament on Thursday, during a post-Cabinet media conference.
“If they don’t like South Africa so much, if they don’t like the efforts of [the] government to redress the inequalities of the past, why don’t they take up President Trump on his offer to resettle in the United States?”
Read more: Afrikaner group makes a sho’t right to Europe to campaign for more support against ‘SA race laws’
This week, AfriForum and Solidarity met representatives of the Trump administration in Washington to thank the US president for his support, and to request that he provide aid to an “Afrikaner development fund”, among other recommendations.
The organisations delivered a “Washington Memorandum” to delegates from the Trump administration at the White House.
The discussions we had in the U.S. Congress with both Republicans and Democrats confirmed that there is currently anger among those in power in the U.S. over the ANC leaders’ reckless policies and actions. @afriforum @solidariteit pic.twitter.com/1kSVuPVZjI
— Kallie Kriel (@kalliekriel) February 27, 2025
“In light of President Trump’s executive order, we propose that Afrikaners’ aspiration for a free, safe and prosperous life and cultural autonomy at the southern tip of Africa be recognised, [and] aid be provided to an Afrikaner development fund to assist with community infrastructure protecting Afrikaners. This includes safety structures, social structures, job structures, training structures and infrastructure to settle Afrikaners in a concentrated manner,” the memorandum reads.
The organisation’s Washington tour comes after Trump ordered all US foreign assistance to South Africa be stopped and that his administration promote the resettlement of “Afrikaner refugees escaping government-sponsored, race-based discrimination, including racially discriminatory property confiscation” in South Africa.
In the order, titled “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa”, Trump accused the South African government of, under the recently adopted Expropriation Act, seizing “ethnic minority Afrikaners’ agricultural property without compensation”.
Pretoria has refuted Trump’s claims.
AfriForum and Solidarity previously declined Trump’s “resettlement” offer for persecuted white Afrikaners, saying they had no intention of leaving South Africa.
On Thursday, Ntshavheni stated: “There’s an offer – they must take that offer instead of peddling lies.
“South Africa has a responsibility to correct the injustices of the past so that we can build a united, prosperous and equal South Africa.”
Budget deadline ‘cast in stone’
The 12 March 2025 deadline for Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana to table the Budget in the National Assembly is “cast in stone”, Ntshavheni said on Thursday.
“That’s what the Speaker has announced, and she has announced that with the confirmation of Cabinet.”
Speaking to reporters on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, 26 February, Ntshavheni said deliberations within the Cabinet on the Budget “are continuing to determine the best ways to fund our national priorities and ensure the budget reflects the aspirations of all South Africans”.
There would be another special Cabinet meeting on Monday, 3 March to deliberate on ways to balance the government’s books and “finalise our inputs with [National] Treasury”.
Read more: From confidence to chaos: the implications of South Africa’s unfolding Budget crisis
Godongwana’s Budget speech was postponed on 19 February because of divisions, largely over an increase in VAT from 15% to 17%, in the Cabinet of the 10-party government of national unity (GNU). He had presented the two-percentage-point VAT increase to GNU partners in a snap Cabinet meeting on the morning of 19 February, resulting in the postponement of the Budget for the first time since 1994.
Had the Budget passed in the National Assembly, the increase in VAT would have kneecapped South Africans, particularly the millions still living below the poverty line, Daily Maverick’s Yeshiel Panchia reported.
In a press briefing held after the postponement of the speech, Godongwana and Ntshavheni were at pains to promote a united front in Cabinet, saying the decision to postpone the Budget speech was a Cabinet decision and not due to pressure from any political party. On Thursday, Ntshavheni reiterated that the postponement of the speech on 19 February was the result of efforts by the Cabinet to “collectively address” South Africa’s funding challenges.
On Monday, 24 February, a revised Budget was debated at a special Cabinet meeting in Cape Town, News24 reported. Godongwana had presented an alternative Budget, without the two-percentage-point VAT hike, which was opposed by the Cabinet, which labelled it as unworkable, the news publication reported.
“Market-sensitive information will remain market-sensitive information,” Ntshavheni said on Thursday, in response to questions from reporters on the Budget deliberations in Cabinet.
“We have indicated as Cabinet we are engaging and it’s a timeline that we need to comply with, and we are going to comply with, to conclude the Budget process within the mandate of Cabinet,” she said.
Read more: What a 2 percentage point VAT increase would actually cost SA households
Ntshavheni further dismissed rumours of “contestation” within Cabinet over the Budget.
“They are just that – rumours. In [the] Cabinet we don’t have political parties, and we don’t have people representing their political parties.” DM
This is a developing story and will be updated.