As the 2 April 2025 deadline to pass the budget in Parliament draws near, the ANC is still facing significant challenges in securing support from its coalition partners. At the same time, political parties outside the government are strongly opposing the budget, which is due to be implemented on 1 May.
Last week, the ANC leadership met with the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party, Build One South Africa (Bosa) ActionSA and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in a bid to convince them to support the budget after several of its partners shot it down.
At the heart of the refusal to vote for the budget is the 0.5 percentage point increase in VAT tabled by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana on 12 March, which the DA, the second biggest party in the Government of National Unity (GNU) rejected outright.
Without the DA’s support, the ANC is looking to woo opposition parties to help it get the budget over the line.
On Wednesday, 26 March 2025, DA head of policy and MP Mat Cuthbert told Daily Maverick: “Negotiations are still ongoing as indicated by our leader John Steenhuisen. We will not support the budget in its current form.”
MK national spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela confirmed that the party had met with the ANC last week to discuss economic policy.
“We made it very clear that we will not entertain a VAT increase and that they must rather put forward other formal proposals which we would then consider.”
As things stand, “We are just waiting,” Ndhlela said.
Read more: Budget battles — ANC, DA, and the fight over power, policy and politics
Ndhlela said that the party had put forward a series of proposals, including several key interventions. These included increasing corporate tax by 1% and fast-tracking the collection of nearly R800-billion in outstanding South African Revenue Service revenue, which could have a significant impact on the fiscus.
Ndhlela said the MK party wanted the government to prioritise the country’s taxing of minerals, getting the Reserve Bank to monitor banks more closely, and to implement more aggressive oversight of illicit financial flows, which continued to hurt the economy.
‘Unprecedented crisis’
ActionSA’s national chairperson Michael Beaumont said his party, which holds six seats in Parliament, had rejected the ANC’s request to support the budget after a meeting last week.
Speaking about the reasons for rejecting the request, particularly as the party already has a working relationship with the ANC on a local level in Johannesburg and Pretoria, he said: “We do not accept the idea that the South African government should reach further into the pockets of South African people when they have made no effort to cut the inefficiencies and wastages of their own government.
“Secondly, principally, we have a problem with the fact that the opposition must now help approve a budget with a deeply unpopular VAT hike because the government can’t find the majority from within the massive GNU,” Beaumont said.
Read more: What happens next for a contested Budget?
The party believes that instead of begging for the support of political parties outside of the government, the government should be dissolved, although this would cause instability.
“If you can’t approve a budget, then you must dissolve the government and reconstitute a new one. We cannot have a constitutional crisis in South Africa where organs of state and spheres of government are unsure as to where their next cent is coming from.
“That’s an unprecedented crisis and I think GNU partners should hang their heads in shame that they have put our country in this space, and that now opposition parties like ActionSA have been brought to clean up their mess,” said Beaumont.
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ActionSA would have only considered helping to pass the budget if it did not involve a VAT increase and income bracket tax increases, which had not been adjusted for inflation for two years. There would have to be other conditions as well, Beaumont said.
The other conditions would include proper funding for the National Prosecuting Authority, with a focus on recruiting prosecutors, as well as supporting the Investigating Directorate in tackling corruption.
Beaumont called for a review of government spending and said his party wanted an increase in funding for border management and local government.
Serious negotiations
The Sunday Times reported that EFF secretary-general Marshall Dlamini said the red berets would get into serious negotiations with the ANC on the GNU when the DA and the Freedom Front were removed from government.
“We are ready to participate in government, but not with racists,” Dlamini said.
On Wednesday, Bosa, led by Mmusi Maimane, also confirmed that it had been approached by the ANC to support the budget, and said it would engage in discussions with the party.
“We want to be absolutely clear: Bosa will only support a budget that serves the best interests of the people of South Africa. Negotiations about the budget cannot be transactional or bilateral. Only an agreement that addresses the pains of citizens will be accepted by Bosa.
“The budget cycle effectively operates on a three-year medium-term framework, which means decisions must be made with a view to securing stability over the medium term. Moreover, commitments ought to be made now, even though many will effectively only be realised by the end of the medium term,” said acting spokesperson, Roger Solomons.
Solomons said that the party had decided to enter negotiations focused on several key fiscal reforms, including reducing state-owned enterprise bailouts, which would see the government end the practice of rewarding inefficiency and mismanagement with public funds.
It also called for a reduced Cabinet to create a leaner, more efficient and accountable executive. DM