by MTHULISI SIBANDA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – ALMOST exactly a year after its stranglehold on power ended, the African National Congress (ANC) faces the ignominy of Parliament rejecting a Budget for the first time since the advent of majority rule.
Not since the advent of democracy more than 30 years ago has a budget been so this divisive as the 2025/26 one.
It is meanwhile the latest point of infighting within the coalition government running South Africa since May last year when ANC lost its majority rule, in elections held two months earlier.
ANC finds itself isolated over the budget, with its partners in the coalition government rejecting the budget following introduction of the controversial value added tax (VAT).
The biggest partner in the coalition, the Democratic Alliance (DA), with which the ANC is in consistent clashes with, has rejected the budget.
“The ANC VAT budget doesn’t have a majority, and the DA won’t give it one. It is now up to the ANC to fix the mess it has created,” insisted John Steeinhuisen, leader of the DA.
ANC is now in a predicament in that it has to seek the support of parties outside government, so that a majority of legislators vote in favour of the budget.
That itself is an arduous task as most parties outside the so-called government of national unity also despise the VAT, arguing it would add to the suffering of millions already hit by economic woes.
It is a race against time for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party, with the April 2 deadline to pass the budget in Parliament drawing near. The ANC has 159 seats in Parliament. It thus needs 42 votes from other parties to pass the budget.
If Parliament has not passed the budget by then, the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) allows government spending to continue based on the previous year’s allocations.
ANC delegations are scampering for support from outside the so-called government of national unity (GNU).
It has been a frustrating task, with parties approaching turning down the former liberation movement on the basis that it did not consult them when its formed the coalition government last year, but only now that ANC is in trouble and desperate for the votes to pass the budget.
Other parties have given the ANC an ultimatum to remove the DA from government, as a pre-condition.
ActionSA, led by former mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, an ex-member of DA, is the latest to turn the ANC down.
“Central to our decision is the reality that this budget arises from a GNU that did not consult ActionSA in the development of the proposed budget,” Michael Beaumont and Athol Trollip, ActionSA National Chairperson and ActionSA Parliamentary Leader, respectively, jointly stated.
They added, “ActionSA cannot impose tax increases on South Africans to support those in the GNU who are notionally opposed to these increases, yet continue implementing them at the expense of South Africans.”
So desperate is the situation that ANC has even reportedly solicited for support from the uMkhonto weSizwe party of former country and ANC president, Jacob Zuma, who it has expelled.
Another ANC splinter, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), has reportedly said the ANC can only negotiate if the DA and the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) were removed from government.
DA and Freedom Front have a history steeped on apartheid South Africa and are seen as protecting the interests of the white minority.
Fikile Mbalula, ANC Secretary General, confirmed talks with parties in parliament to have the budget over the line at the National Assembly.
“We have been talking to everyone in Parliament but we have not reached a point where we can say, the following will vote with us,” Mbalula said.
“The process of engagement is ongoing. We are quite optimistic that all of us will be able to pass the budget in Parliament,” Mbalula added.
The budget speech presented by Finance minister Enoch Godongwana was doomed from the onset.
It was initially set to be delivered on February 19 but was postponed at the 11th hour due to differences within the coalition government, mainly over VAT.
Critics project tax increases will further burden South Africans at a time of economic hardship. It was the first time since majority rule in 1994 that this had happened.
Godongwana eventually presented the budget speech on March 12, with a proposal to increase VAT by 0,5 percent and a similar percentage again the following year.
– CAJ News