ANC, DA square off over budget

The Democratic Alliance won't back the budgets for the departments of higher education, human settlements and police

- Mandisa Nyathi

The rejection of three departmental budgets in the National Assembly has triggered alarm in the ANC caucus and among senior leaders, prompting the party to look for alternative partners to push the votes through.

Chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli told the Mail & Guardian that the party had taken note of the Democratic Alliance's (DA) threats to reject the budgets of ANC ministers implicated in corruption and was seeking the support of smaller parties, just as it had done in the protracted process to approve the national budget earlier this year.

The party is now focused on consolidating its support in parliament to avoid being politically "indebted" to a partner in the government of national unity (GNU) that "changes its stance frequently and is against transformation", Ntuli said.

"We have resolved to speak to other parties to help us pass the votes in parliament where the DA has shown that it will reject our ministers' budgets. We continuously work to maintain communication and cooperation with other parties in the National Assembly, so we are not put in a position where we rely on the DA, whose stance tends to shift frequently," he said.

According to an opinion by senior parliament legal adviser Frank Stander Jenkins, the Appropriation Bill, which authorises government spending, cannot be passed unless the National Assembly approves all 42 departmental allocations ("votes") listed in schedule 1 of the Bill.

The DA has rejected the budgets for the departments of higher education, human settlements and police, headed respectively by ministers Nobuhle Nkabane, Thembi Simelane and Senzo Mchunu, who was suspended by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday over corruption allegations.