Parliament passes national budget tabled by finance minister in February

CAPE TOWN - Just days before the end-of-month deadline, the National Assembly has passed the national budget tabled by the finance minister in February.

In a break with tradition, the Democratic Alliance (DA) gingerly supported the individual departmental budgets, saying it was doing so for the sake of progress.

Other Government of National Unity (GNU) partners like the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), United Democratic Movement (UDM), and Freedom Front (FF) Plus also made declarations on various budget votes to express their reservations about how the money is being apportioned in departments including the South African Police Service (SAPS) and health.

The SAPS budget has come under fire from several political parties, including crime activist turned DA member of Parliament (MP) Ian Cameron, who listed several shortcomings.

“Protection of whistleblowers with regard to investigations like that of targeted murders like Babita Deokoran, increasing capacity within the police service generally, improving the quality and implementation of wellness programmes for SAPS [South African Police Service] members.”

RISE Mzansi’s Makashule Gana said the government needed to spend less on protecting the executive.

“We want to see this budget that is currently used to protect ministers, deputy ministers, and politicians to be reallocated to fight criminals carrying illegal guns in communities, [and] to increase the number of detectives.”

The Appropriation Bill has now been sent to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence.