Budget showdown: ANC secures narrow victory as GNU partnership falters

The ANC has lived to see another day after it narrowly passed the Budget, with a difference of 12 votes on Wednesday night without their partner in the Government of National Unity, the DA.

The ANC, after teaming up with smaller parties within the GNU, got 194 votes while the DA with the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) and the EFF garnered only 182.

The voting has created more questions than answers about the future of the GNU after the DA was adamant that it would not vote alongside its biggest partner.

After the events of the National Assembly last night, the DA said that the Federal Executive would be meeting on Thursday morning to discuss its future.

The EFF and the MKP had vehemently opposed the passing of the Budget to the point of threatening court action.    

However, National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza addressed the threats of court action from the EFF and the MKP regarding the request from the two parties for the withdrawal of the report on the Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals.

Didiza's response comes after the EFF and MKP raised procedural and legal objections to the adoption of the report on the 2025 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals by the Standing Committee on Finance.

In her letter, Didiza clarified that the Money Bills and Related Matters Act does not prescribe the procedure followed by the Standing Committee on Finance. Instead, she emphasised that the procedure is governed by Assembly Rules.

"The Report of the Standing Committee on Finance on the 2025 fiscal framework and revenue proposals... provides a clear statement on page 35 that the Standing Committee on Finance accepts the 2025 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals," Didiza wrote.

She added that the procedure of the committee leading up to the report referred to in the Act was not prescribed by the Act. 

“Part 11 of chapter 12 of the rules of the National Assembly (2016) provides, among others, for the powers and functions of the Standing Committee on Finance. 

“Assembly Rule 232 specifically provides that the Standing Committee must perform the functions and exercise the powers specified in the Money Bills and Related Matters Act and must also perform the functions listed in Rule 227 and can exercise the powers specified in Rule 167, except in so far as any of these provisions are inconsistent with the provisions of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act. 

“I am advised that the draft report was formally adopted by the Standing Committee. Before adoption, amendments were considered and those agreed were then included in the final report. This included the clear statement as required by section 8(4) of the Money Bills and Related Matters Act,” Didiza wrote. 

The EFF and the MKP had earlier objected to the report's adoption, arguing that it was procedurally and legally flawed. The parties claimed that the report did not contain a clear statement accepting or amending the fiscal framework, as required by the Act.

The EFF's chief whip, Nontando Nolutshungu, wrote to Didiza and the Finance Portfolio Committee chairperson, Dr. Joe Maswanganyi, requesting the report's withdrawal and the committee's reconvening to formally resolve the fiscal framework.

“In the meeting of 1 April 2025, the Committee was never presented with a direct proposition or question from the Chairperson to decide whether it accepts or amends the 2025 Fiscal Framework and Revenue Proposals. Instead, members were asked to vote on whether they adopt the report, reject the report, or reserve their right to vote. This procedural step — the prior resolution required to pass the legal threshold of Section 8(4) — was never taken,” Nolutshungu wrote.

Meanwhile, ActionSA played a crucial role in passing the fiscal framework report, which is a key step in approving the 2025 Budget.

The ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) voted for the report, which featured a recommendation tabled by ActionSA's Alan Beesley.

The National Assembly after a rowdy start eventually voted on the Budget on Wednesday afternoon, despite concerns raised by the DA, EFF, and MK Party over the legality of the report passed on Tuesday.

This has thrust the Government of National Unity (GNU) into disarray after the ANC and the DA were deadlocked in disagreement over the passing of the Budget.

To make matters worse, earlier in a leaked audio, President Cyril Ramaphosa can be heard telling his party members that the DA had placed itself in an uncomfortable position and that it was now up to the party to find its way out.

"And I said, what seems to please you is that you want to be in government, and you also want to be the opposition, and I said you can't have your cake and eat it,” said Ramaphosa in the audio.

He said the DA had added insult to the ANC because it wanted to be a partner in the GNU and an opposition at the same time.

mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za