Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana, addressing the media at Imbizo lounge in Parliament after the budget speech was postponed. Phando Jikelo/ Parliament of SA
FROM now onwards, the ANC will know that being the party with the most votes but without the outright majority to govern does not guarantee it to run the country as it wishes.
That is the lesson the DA intends to teach the ANC by refusing to support the Budget that was to be tabled by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in the National Assembly on Wednesday.
Readers who are familiar with this space will recall our editorials repeatedly questioning the role of the DA in the so-called Government of National Unity (GNU) leading up to Wednesday’s events.
We highlighted that the DA was a passenger in the GNU vehicle while the ANC, as the driver, had its way in almost every policy decision taken by the executive.
This included the passing of contentious bills and rejecting those that the DA intended reviewing through its ministers.
We also boldly stated that the signing of the Expropriation Bill into law was the final straw for the DA and indeed judging from yesterday’s events it became clear that the DA was no longer willing to be the chief cheerleader of the Ramaphosa-led ANC.
That the country has had to postpone the tabling of the budget for the first time since becoming a democracy sets a worrying precedent, is an understatement.
It signals a bumpy road ahead especially for the ANC as it must now reconcile with the fact that there are other parties that it chose to form a government with that must have a say.
Perhaps the real impact of the GNU dispute over the Budget will be visible in local government where political parties forming government will equally demand that their interests are prioritised before they can support the budget. That situation becomes even trickier for an ANC with ambitions of regaining lost ground in local government especially in the metros ahead of next year’s elections.
The DA knows this well and will use it to their advantage to perhaps win the metros it was ruled.
While this bickering unfolds, South Africans are yearning for the services long promised to them. That is why they must ensure that come next year, they elect leaders and parties that will be less concerned about their stomachs but more interested in turning around the dire state our councils find themselves in.
Cape Times