The ANC is not happy, with the majority of NEC members reportedly calling for the DA and FF+ to be punished over the budget vote.
As the ANC national working committee prepares to deliberate on the future of the government of national unity (GNU), ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile said he would be “ashamed” to report for duty to implement a budget he did not support.
Mashatile spoke at the inaugural Ahmed Kathrada Legacy Business Breakfast in Illovo on Monday morning about the future of the DA and FF+ after the parties voted against the fiscal framework last week.
‘ANC not happy’
The ANC’s national working committee is expected to meet on Monday to decide whether to keep the GNU’s current composition or change it.
Weekend reports revealed that the ANC is not happy, with the majority of NEC members reportedlycalling for the DA and FF+ to be punished and replaced with other parties.
The ejection of the DA and FF+ would result in a reconfiguration of the Cabinet. Insiders said all the DA and FF+ ministers, deputy ministers and chairs of portfolio committees may be replaced.
WATCH: Paul Mashatile saying he would be ashamed to report for duty
[WATCH] Deputy President Paul Mashatile says if he was a DA minister, he would be “ashamed” to continue working after voting against the budget. #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/Yyr9XUsWXC
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) April 7, 2025
ALSO READ: WATCH: ANC to decide on future of GNU on Monday, says Mashatile
‘Ashamed’
Mashatile said the DA was warned of the consequences.
“Minister Steenhuisen, if you don’t vote for this budget, really, the ball is in your court. You are defining yourself outside the GNU if you don’t vote for this budget. They nevertheless went and did not vote for it.
“But, I can see some of them are working today, still working as ministers, they are going around. I would be ashamed to do that because where does the budget come from? You run to work as a minister, you have not voted for a budget, but you think it’s okay, you’re going to work,” Mashatile said.
Future of GNU
Mashatile said the ANC’s top seven is meeting to decide on the future of the GNU.
“It’s not for me to decide. We will discuss and see, but I know that [federal council chairperson] Helen Zille said that they are committed to the GNU, and my response was. “Vote for the Budget”.
Mashatile said the country would know the decision of the top seven and NWC by Monday.
On Sunday, 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 wouldn’t dictate them to the ANC.
This after top business leaders wrote to Ramaphosa and DA leader John Steenhuisen to keep the current GNU intact.
Speaking to journalists after an ANC branch general meeting in Soweto on Sunday, Ramaphosa said he was taking the concerns raised in the letter seriously.
ALSO READ: WATCH: ActionSA will negotiate in the best interests of people if party joins GNU, Mashaba says
