The ANC and DA are worlds apart on the proposed budget, with Fikile Mbalula accusing its GNU partner of wanting to negate democratic gains.
The divide between the ANC and the DA’s vision for how South Africa should be run is being laid bare.
ANC secretary-general (SG) Fikile Mbalula took several shots at their government of national unity (GNU) partner on Wednesday as the parties failed to agree on the proposed 2025/26 budget.
As the two biggest parties in parliament, the ANC and DA will need to come to an agreement or potentially set the country down a rocky path.
DA’s ‘true intentions’
Mbalula spoke of the successes of the budget and how “61 cents of every rand” allocated in the budget went to the most vulnerable.
“[The budget is a] carefully measured intervention designed to sustain government revenue without disproportionately affecting the poor,” said Mbalula.
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He then tore into the DA, accusing the party of trying to leverage the budget process to gain more control over the GNU.
“The ANC will not be deterred by those who wish to see South Africa return to the ‘good old days’ of apartheid economic privilege,” said Mbalula.
“Their opposition is not based on consensus for fiscal responsibility, but is instead a desperate attempt to undermine transformation, protect white monopoly capital and roll back the democratic gains made over the past three decades.
“The DA’s demands expose their true intentions. They want black economic empowerment policies to be abandoned [and] they want to weaken institutions that have been established to reverse economic exclusion,” the SG declared.
ANC’s ‘underlying problem’
The DA was not the only party to publicly state they will not support the budget.
The MK party said it would also not back the budget, while EFF leader Julius Malema said his party would not work with the ANC, but would instead make its own amendment proposals in the upcoming debates.
The DA made its stance known before Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s speech on Wednesday, stressing its opposition to VAT and tax increases.
“The underlying problem is that the ANC has still not accepted the outcome of the general election and cannot bring itself to share power,” the DA stated on Wednesday.
“It is deeply unfortunate that the ANC is prepared to sacrifice the South African people and risk the economic future of the country rather than accept it no longer has majority support,” the party added.
Budget vote numbers
Of the 400 seats in parliament, the ANC holds 159, so must find another 42 votes in order to pass the budget.
Without the DA’s 87 seats and the IFP’s 17, the remaining GNU parties only account for 22 seats. The MK party holds 58 and the EFF 39.
Outside the top five parties — ANC, DA, MK, EFF, IFP — the remaining 13 parties in the National Assembly only hold 39 seats.
Before the vote, the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), through the individual portfolios, will debate the budget.
*Additional reporting by Molefe Seeletsa
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