IFP, PA tell DA off over refusal to back 2025 budget framework
GNU partners are being pitted against each other in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, without unanimous support for the budget blueprint.
FILE: Newly sworn-in Cabinet ministers pose for a photo with Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and President Cyril Ramaphosa on 3 July 2024. Picture: GCIS
CAPE TOWN - The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been told off by two of its Government of National Unity(GNU) partners in the National Assembly over its refusal to back the 2025 budget framework and a half a percentage point increase in the value-added tax(VAT) rate.
As the DA faces increasing isolation within the coalition over its stance on the matter, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) says it won’t be dictated to by the DA.
Meanwhile, the Patriotic Alliance says the DA should appreciate that the finance minister was open to negotiating down the original proposal of a 2% VAT hike.
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GNU partners are being pitted against each other in Parliament on Wednesday afternoon, without unanimous support for the budget blueprint.
It’s led the African National Congress(ANC) to woo ActionSA to get the support it needed on Tuesday, to get the report through the committee stage in preparation for Wednesday’s National Assembly vote.
However, the third-largest party in the GNU, the IFP, says it won’t be dictated to by the DA.
The party’s chief whip, Nhlanhla Hadebe, said: " I wish to caution the da that if the da thinks their views are a master plan for all of us, they must wake-up and think again."
The Patriotic Alliance’s Gayton McKenzie has also criticised the DA for not being satisfied with a lesser VAT increase.
"We are fighting here with our GNU partner, the DA. I can’t have it my way or the highway."
The Freedom Front Plus is the only other GNU partner to indicate that it won’t support the budget framework when the votes are cast.