No dissenting views from within GNU in deciding how to spend public money - Godongwana

CAPE TOWN - Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana said there were no dissenting views from within the Government of National Unity (GNU) in deciding how to spend public money in the adjustments budget he tabled on Wednesday.

Many critics had raised concerns when the GNU was formed about how the African National Congress (ANC) would get its coalition partners to agree to a budget when in the past the Democratic Alliance (DA) and others have been vehemently opposed to government's spending plans.

However, the minister told a post-budget gathering in Cape Town on Thursday that despite differences on contentious legislation like the National Health Insurance (NHI), they are all on the same page.

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Godongwana said a ministers’ budget committee comprising the three biggest parties in the GNU went through the adjustments budget together.

“Not a single dissenting voice because we agreed on the strategic thrust of fiscal consolidation. All of us.”

Godongwana told a room of economists and analysts they should dismiss headlines about reported tensions within the GNU.

“We are working very well. Forget about newspaper clippings and so on. We do irritate each other here and there. There will always be that irritation because we are not coming from the same stable, but it does not mean that on substantive issues we are not on the same page.”

He said the GNU is working with a unity of purpose, and he's confident the partnership will see out the five-year term.