File
Parliament passed the 2025 budget after a boisterous debate in the National Assembly. Still, the national treasury will have to devise alternatives to proposals to hike VAT by 1% over the next two years.
The budget was supported on Wednesday by 194 MPs, including from ActionSA, which backed the budget but with conditions.
One hundred eighty-four MPs voted against the fiscal framework proposals and the Standing Committee on Finance report.
Some parties who opposed the budget, including the DA, EFF, and MK Party, said they would turn to the courts, putting the future of the GNU under the spotlight.
Good Party leader Patricia de Lille said that the passing of the budget showed that the national unity government was not dependent on one party.
She said it remains to be seen what will happen after ministers vote against the budget allocated to their departments.
“No one holds the balance of power,” De Lille said.
The Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, said there was “no basis for people not to vote for the budget and then go to the cabinet and think that they are going to implement the same budget,” in response to a question about the way forward with the Democratic Alliance.
“That decision does not lie with me. It lies with the ANC. I would find it difficult for the ANC to accept such behaviour,” Godongwana said.
Meanwhile, the DA said it would file papers in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday to challenge the decision to pass the budget.
“It is unthinkable that ActionSA has handed this VAT hike to the ANC on a platter, and it is unlawful and unconstitutional how Parliament processed the budget, said DA leader John Steenhuisen.
He said the DA has vehemently opposed the minister's budget proposal and had negotiated for amendments that would have ensured economic growth and job creation because "that is what South Africa needs."
Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane said in a post-budget interview that without a budget, South Africa slides deeper towards becoming a banana republic.
He said the longer the budget is delayed, the bigger the fiscal debt hole.
Mmaimane said the budget needed to be passed, but now it needs to be amended since the framework is in place.
He said he proposed other revenue-raising mechanisms, including declaring online gambling a “sin tax” to raise much-needed revenue.
Cosatu’s Matthew Parks said that the government wanted to pass the budget to avoid entering unfunded territory, which would have made it difficult to make new expenditures.
He said parliament’s finance committee had agreed during deliberations on Tuesday that there should not be a VAT hike.
“So, they have given Treasury 30 days to come back and report to them on alternatives. But 30 days is too long, because on 1 May, if the budget is not adjusted, the tax hikes will come into effect,” said Parks.
“It is messy to put it politely. It would have been better to make these adjustments before adopting the budget, but it can be done although under very severe time constraints,” he said in a television interview.
