Didiza expected to buckle under pressure over support of 2025 budget framework
While the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) was first off the mark on Wednesday to call for the report to be withdrawn, the Democratic Alliance (DA) too has written to her to ask for the same.
Speaker of the National Assembly Thoko Didiza during the Budget Speech on the 12 March 2025. Picture credit: Phando at Parliament
CAPE TOWN - National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza is expected to face considerable pressure in the house on Wednesday to refer back a report adopted by the standing committee on finance supporting the 2025 budget framework.
While the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) was first off the mark on Wednesday to call for the report to be withdrawn, the Democratic Alliance (DA) too has written to her to ask for the same.
The report recommends that the National Treasury find alternative ways to fund the budget shortfall instead of increasing value-added tax (VAT).
But the finance minister is under no obligation to accede to this.
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In a letter from the DA's chief whip, George Michalakis, he points out several instances of what his party believes are procedural flaws in the way the budget blueprint was handled by the committee on Tuesday.
Michalakis says the report that will be presented by chairperson Joe Maswanganyi to the house on Wednesday does not include a clear statement accepting or amending the fiscal framework and revenue proposals as required by the Money Bills Act.
He says while the committee went through the report clause by clause, it never adopted a final version setting out the clear statement, and neither was it voted on by the committee.
Amendments that the National Treasury would return to the committee in 30 days with alternative proposals to the VAT increase, the DA says were made retrospectively.
“This constitutes a fundamental procedural failure, despite members of the committee throughout calling for an updated version of the report to know exactly what they are adopting and is unlawful,” said Michalakis.
The DA says even if the report is adopted by the house, any subsequent resolution of the house would be unlawful, and more crucially, the contentious VAT increase that has caused upset within the Government of National Unity will still come into effect on 1 May 2025.