The future of the government of national unity is hanging by a thread.
With the future of the government of national unity (GNU) hanging by a thread, Deputy President Paul Mashatile said the ANC’s national working committee (NWC) will meet on Monday to discuss the way forward regarding the coalition government.
The GNU faces another challenge after the DA and FF+ voted against Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s 2025 national budget in Parliament last week.
ANC agenda
Furious ANC NEC members are calling for the party to eject the DA and FF+ from the GNU after accusing them of “betraying them during the passing of the 2025 fiscal framework.”
On the agenda will be what the ANC plans to do with the DA and FF+, who voted against the recently passed national budget.
WATCH: Paul Mashatile speaking about the ANC meeting to decide the future of the GNU
[WATCH] ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile says the party’s National Working Committee will meet on Monday to discuss the way forward regarding the GNU. He was speaking after delivering the Solomon Mahlangu lecture in Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats. pic.twitter.com/v1Q3r7yWr6
— SABC News (@SABCNews) April 6, 2025
ALSO READ: WATCH: ‘Business will not dictate or influence decisions in ANC I lead,’ says Ramaphosa
Future of GNU
Speaking to reporters after delivering the Solomon Mahlangu lecture in Khayelitsha on the Cape Flats on Sunday, Mashatile said the NWC will decide on the future of the GNU.
“We will hear from the NWC what we should do. As you know, when we were in Parliament, they (DA) didn’t vote for the budget, and we passed the budget with other parties, the fiscal framework.
“We’re still going to go back, we have to pass the Expropriation Act and other laws and so on. The NWC is only meeting tomorrow [Monday] to get this report, and after its deliberation, it will say what should happen next,” Mashatile said.
ALSO READ: GNU still stands – unsteadily
DA committed to GNU
On Saturday, DA leader John Steenhuisen said there’s no decision on whether his party will stay or leave the GNU.
Speaking to the media during a by-election campaign in eThekwini, Steenhuisen said that despite the fight against the VAT increase, his party remains committed to the GNU.
“The DA also entered government to be part of government and not be mere spectators. We need to be in the wheelhouse of government where we can determine the economic direction of the country, not just swap the decks down below.
“We don’t seek to dominate the government, we fully accept that we do not have a 51% majority… Let me be very clear, we are committed to the government of national unity, and we entered the government of national unity because we think it is the right thing to do for the people of South Africa, Steenhuisen said.
‘ANC won’t be dictated to’
Meanwhile, ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa stressed that decisions regarding the GNU would be guided by careful analysis, not emotions or sectional interests, and that unelected groups would not dictate to the ANC.
This after top business leaders wrote to Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen to keep the current GNU intact.
“Business does not dictate what happens in government, in the ANC I lead. We take our own decisions based on our considerations of everything that will advance the interests of our people.
“I want to make it clear the ANC will not be influenced by what business says. We are principally influenced by what our people say,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa added that they are not under pressure from business.
ALSO READ: ANC wants DA and FF+ punished and out of GNU for ‘budget betrayal’ [VIDEO]
