Should the minister of finance take the blame for the Budget impasse?

ANC MANDATE

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AFTER two unsuccessful attempts to get the 2025 national Budget passed, Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, is facing growing calls for his resignation from different sectors of society. By now though, South Africans should be used to the fact that no ANC leader has resigned under pressure.

As expectations grow that President Cyril Ramaphosa will dismiss him should he not succeed in his third attempt to have the Budget passed later this month, do not hold your breath. ANC presidents from Thabo Mbeki to Ramaphosa have defended the likes of Jackie Selebi.

The failure to table the 2025 Budget that is acceptable to all Government of National Unity (GNU) partners has made Godongwana come across as not fit and proper to serve as minister of finance. Section 92 (1) of the South African Constitution states: “The deputy president and ministers are responsible for the powers and functions of the executive assigned to them by the president.”

The first Budget that was rejected by the GNU partner, the DA, and the main opposition political parties (the MK Party and the EFF), proposed to raise the VAT by two percentage points. The second version of the Budget that was also rejected reduced the VAT hike to two increases of 0.5% over the next two years. The DA even went to court to challenge the Budget thus exposing the deep divisions between the two leading parties in the GNU. The calls for Godongwana to do the honourable thing by resigning are understandable when one applies the principle of “three strikes and you are out”.

The “three strikes and you are out” principle is commonly used in the fields of sport and criminal law. In criminal sentencing law, the “three strikes and you are out” principle applies to repeat offenders, especially those with a history of violent or serious felonies. This sentencing law mandates a minimum sentence of 25 years to life for offenders convicted of three strikes.