DA Fed Executive is expected to meet and decide on whether the party will remain in the Government of National Unity (GNU),.
Image: File
The Federal Executive (FedEx) of the Democratic Alliance (DA) is expected to meet and decide whether the party will remain in the Government of National Unity (GNU).
DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp told journalists outside the National Assembly on Wednesday that the executives will meet and discuss the way forward.
“The parties have now handed that power back to the [African National Congress] ANC to just do what they did over the last three years and the Democratic Alliance can be proud to say, they did not form part of that. I don’t know what the sentiment will be," he said.
“Our FedEx will have to decide on whether to stay or to leave but I think it is very important to say it is going to be very difficult to be a passenger on the bus but you have no say where is that bus is going."
The DA's decision will be known in the next 48 hours.
This is after the ANC successfully passed the budget passed after getting support from parties outside the GNU.
During the vote, 192 MPs vote in favour of the budget, while 182 voted against.
After opposing the national budget framework in Parliament on Wednesday, the DA will on Thursday take legal action in the Western Cape High Court against the approval of the fiscal framework.
After Wednesday's vote, the party has been regarded by some of its governing partners as a pariah within the coalition.
It now faces a difficult choice: whether to voluntarily withdraw from the partnership or wait to be forced out.
Apart from the DA, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) was the only other party in the GNU to reject the budget.
DA leader, John Steenhuisen, stated that the party will reassess its position within the governing coalition over the next two days.
“I think this is a very grave moment for the GNU, but the reality is we can not stay in the GNU if we are going to be reduced to mere supplicants, and the other party,” he said, adding that the ANC was going around and shopping outside of the GNU for concessions.
The DA believes the ANC crossed the line in negotiating the parameters of the GNU.
kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za
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