Central SA
ActionSA’s support for budget could be ‘recipe for disaster’ – political analyst─── KEKELETSO MOSEBETSI 11:46 Wed, 02 Apr 2025
A political analyst from the North-West University (NWU) has warned that the support offered by ActionSA to the ANC to pass the budget could prove to be a “recipe for disaster”.
This comes as the deadlock between the two leading parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU), the ANC and the DA, remains unresolved as the vote on the fiscal framework heads to the National Assembly.
On Tuesday (1/4), during a finance committee meeting in Parliament, the ANC and the IFP, both members of the GNU, voted in favour of a fiscal framework report that included a recommendation proposed by ActionSA’s Alan Beesley. The ANC President, Cyril Ramaphosa, and DA leader, John Steenhuisen, met earlier in the day to discuss the matter, but the ANC ultimately turned to outside support to get the fiscal framework through the committee. ActionSA has raised its hand to assist the ANC in pushing the budget forward if talks continue to fail with the DA.
NWU analyst Prof. Kedibone Phago expressed concern over the dynamics of this new partnership.
“This is a major turning point in relation to the key partners in the GNU – the ANC and the DA. The budget in itself means that it is a policy statement of the cabinet. So, cabinet members need to agree to that policy statement. Having a member outside of government – which is ActionSA – participating to replace the DA in voting with the ANC to make up the numbers to pass the budget, is a recipe for disaster because it is actually not in line with the notion that the budget is a statement of the cabinet,” said Prof. Phago.
He said if the ANC and the DA, key partners in the GNU, cannot come to an agreement on the fiscal framework, the GNU cabinet may need to revisit their terms of agreement.
“So when the cabinet is in disagreement and there are government activities that are taking place in this fashion, it would mean that they need to go to the drawing board and agree whether they are agreeing to disagree or whether they are agreeing to change the terms of agreement because it is going to become a feature going forward, much likely.”
The National Assembly is expected to vote on the fiscal framework this afternoon, amid growing concerns from opposition parties. The DA, EFF, and the MK party have raised questions about the legality of the report passed on Tuesday.
For the budget to pass in the National Assembly, the ANC needs 201 votes of the 400 available, a target it seems to be on the brink of reaching.
With 159 votes of its own, the ANC has secured support from several smaller political parties, including 17 votes from the IFP, 9 from the PA, 3 from the UDM, 2 each from Rise Mzansi and Al Jama-ah, and one vote each from Good and the PAC. With ActionSA’s 6 seats added to this tally, the ANC now has a total of 200 votes, just one short of the required 201.
