Budget battle heads to Parliament as ANC faces opposition from all sides

The Budget battle is far from over as the ANC prepares to pass its proposed Budget in Parliament despite facing fierce opposition from all parties, including its coalition partner, the DA.

The DA, the second largest party within the Government of National Unity (GNU), still reeling from its defeat on the proposed Budget, has made it clear that it will not vote with the ANC to pass it. 

"We were saying there are growth initiatives that if they were done would make it perhaps acceptable for a 0.5 percentage point increase in VAT, but in the absence of those things, how do you expect us to accept a 0.5 percentage point increase when a key part of our election manifesto revolved around no new taxes?" DA leader John Steenhuisen said while addressing the media outside Parliament on Wednesday.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana tabled the Budget in the National Assembly in Cape Town on Wednesday, where his revised Budget included a 0.5% increase in VAT, which has been met with widespread criticism from all parties. 

Addressing the media post budget on Thursday, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said that they were still in talks with the DA, but their door would be open to any other party willing to engage.

However, the ANC's efforts to garner support for its Budget have been met with resistance from all sides. Mbalula has accused the DA of being "anti-transformation" and blocking progressive policies. 

“The DA wants labour laws to be scrapped so that employers can fire workers at will… They want BEE policies to be abandoned…They want to weaken institutions that have been established, to reverse economic exclusion. These are the same policies that entrenched inequality and racial capitalism in the past.

“The ANC will never allow such regression… Everybody is opposing the 0.5% VAT increase but not looking holistically at what it presents to the country…The Budget will be passed working with everybody in Cabinet and the ANC will engage with all other political parties within the GNU and even beyond,” Mbalula said.

He, however, warned that even though the ANC's door was open to talk to every party willing, that did not mean they were submissive.

“We have looked at what the DA talks about which overall to us is blocking transformation. We have equally looked into the questions of the Budget itself in terms of the balance and what needed, in terms of the balance and what needed to be done other than the VAT. 

“We know that the DA would have accepted a 0.5% increase if we would have backtracked on some transformation legislation like the Bela Act, Expropriation Act, and NHI… In this instance, we don't think that those are policy matters that they must use the Budget to block transformation,” Mbalula added.

Asked if the GNU was under threat, Mbalula replied: “We are committed to the GNU. It's just that there are differences with the question of the Budget… It's important that we must find each other and continue to engage. We have not closed the door.”

However, his efforts to reach out to other parties have been rebuffed, with the EFF and MK Party making it clear that they will not support the Budget.

The EFF has been vocal in its opposition to the VAT increase, with spokesperson Thembi Msane saying: "The EFF wants a growth and jobs-oriented Budget with no VAT increase, but more public spending."

Msane added that the Red Berets would be engaging all parties represented in Parliament, and make contributions in all relevant committees for Parliament to use the Money Bills Amendment Procedures and Related Matters Act of 2009.

She reiterated that the EFF would not form a government with the DA and FF Plus.

The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party has also slammed the VAT increase, with spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela saying that their door was open for talks but would not participate in discussions that were not going to benefit the marginalised and the poor.

"We are opposing the budget big time. We cannot approve a budget that is pro-rich at the expense of the poor.

“Ramaphosa’s administration just last year alone put R120 billion into wasteful expenditure. R200 billion disappeared without us knowing in terms of those Covid funds. 

“Then they talk of increasing VAT when they have wasted billions because of incompetence and maladministration.

“We have always said that we are willing to work with progressive parties. At this stage, the ANC led by Ramaphosa is not a progressive party,” Ndhlela said.

mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za