BUDGET 3.0 A step backwards for the country's poorest

SOUTH Africa's third iteration of the 2025 National Budget, colloquially referred to as Budget 3.0, is the consequence of the Government of National Unity (GNU) partners not being in agreement on the contents of the previous two versions of the Budget.

- ADVOCATE LAVAN GOPAUL

Historically, a most embarrassing time for the Finance Ministry, as the Budget was not able to pass the approval of the house.

In the past 30 years, when the ANC was in the majority, it was a fait accompli that the Budget would be paraded through Parliament without comment or question.

Our GNU is essentially a partnership between several parties, some historically in opposition to one another, that are now unlikely partners that have come together to collectively form the government.

One would have assumed that these parties would air out their difference behind closed doors and show the world a unified face, but this was a naive assumption.

The DA appeared to have suffered from amnesia, as a member of the GNU, well represented in the form of the deputy minister of finance, who collectively crafted the Budget, then opposed a VAT increase to fund essential spending.

One can only describe the DA's behaviour as grandstanding during the first iteration of the budget, where it opposed the VAT increase of 1%. Enjoying its moment in the limelight, it opposed the revised VAT increase of 0.5% immediately and 0.5% in a year's time in the second iteration of the Budget.