The deputy president emphasised that the GNU is not an agreement between just two parties.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile says the current tensions within the Government of National Unity (GNU) do not indicate a collapse of the coalition, while ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has promised a way forward regarding the budget will be communicated next week.
There has been uncertainty over the GNU after the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus) voted against the adoption of the 2025 fiscal framework — a key component of the budget.
The DA has also launched a legal challenge to the budgeting process and is seeking to interdict an anticipated increase in the value-added tax (VAT) rate by 0.5 percentage points.
The hike is due to take effect on 1 May.
Mashatile on DA’s future in GNU
While the ANC has decided to “reset” the GNU, Mashatile appeared to soften his previous stance on the DA’s role in the coalition, expressing confidence that the GNU would hold.
“The Government of National Unity has had a lot of challenges in the past, but those did not lead to its collapse,” he said during a commemoration event for South African Communist Party (SACP) leader Chris Hani in Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape on Thursday.
Mashatile emphasised that the GNU is not an agreement between just two parties.
“It’s not the agreement of the ANC and the DA. It’s an agreement of 10 parties.”
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“We want to make sure that when we deal with issues in the GNU, we deal with these issues as all parties, working together, prioritising the challenges that the people of South Africa are facing, [and] not our narrow political interests.”
While acknowledging that disagreements are inevitable, the deputy president stressed that once consensus is reached, all GNU parties must remain aligned.
“We need to understand that we have reached agreements, and we must respect those agreements.”
Mashatile also indicated a willingness to bring other parties into the GNU, following support for the fiscal framework from ActionSA and Build One South Africa (Bosa) — both of which currently sit outside the arrangement.
“Now, the leadership of the ANC, after what has happened recently, decided that we are going to reconfigure the alliance.”
“We are going to reconfigure the alliance and we are going to reconfigure the GNU to ensure that we bring other parties on board to work with us, but also to ensure that we discuss this properly with all the parties.”
Budget talks progressing
Meanwhile, Mbalula said discussions with parties that have responded positively to the ANC’s overtures on resolving the budget impasse are progressing well.
He said the party aims to make an announcement by mid-next week.
“We [are] now moving towards the Division of Revenue [Bill], and we need to find each other in relation to the budget,” the ANC secretary-general said during a media briefing on Thursday.
Mbalula confirmed that no decision has been made regarding the possible scrapping of the proposed VAT hike.
“ActionSA is firm on the question of the VAT in relation to it not being part of the budget going forward.
“That is the matter we are engaging with as we speak in terms of our negotiations, and obviously, we don’t run treasury. Different political parties have been engaging with the Minister of Finance in this regard,” he said.
“It is important that we allow this process to conclude, and then we’ll answer you quite clearly and with a little bit of firmness next week once we allow the process to be finalised,” Mbalula added.
