South African Finance Minister Denies He Went Rogue on VAT Hike

South Africa’s finance minister denied that he ignored advice from the National Treasury not to raise value-added tax by two percentage points, the move that led to last month’s budget being postponed.

“The member from the Democratic Alliance says ‘I acted against the advice of my team.’ That has never happened,” said Enoch Godongwana. “This team can attest to that,” he said Friday in Cape Town in response to a lawmaker’s claim that he had gone rogue over the VAT increase.

Godongwana and his team were in parliament to answer questions on a revised budget presented Wednesday that included ...