ANC's Ntuli says party has learned valuable lessons from budget impasse

CAPE TOWN - The African National Congress (ANC)'s chief whip in Parliament, Mdumiseni Ntuli, says the party has learnt valuable lessons from the budget impasse that will see the Finance Minister retract money bills for the first time since democracy.

Besides walking back a planned value-added tax (VAT) hike, the National Treasury will have to return to the drawing board to plug a R75 billion revenue shortfall over the next three years.

Ntuli says the budget disagreement has underscored the need for a more transparent and inclusive approach to national expenditure.

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The fiscal framework, which includes a VAT hike of 0.5% led to the ANC falling out with two of its Government of National Unity (GNU) partners, with the DA heading to court on Tuesday - and now claiming to have forced the Finance Minister’s hand to retract it.

But Ntuli says the withdrawal is the result of intensive engagement between the other parties, including at least two outside of the GNU and the minister.

"It was Parliament in its majority that voted on the second of April to adopt the fiscal framework with a rider that within the next 30 days, the minister and the National Treasury will interface with proposals coming from not just political parties represented in Parliament, but other stakeholders who are keenly interested in dealing with the contentious issue of the VAT increase."

Ntuli says putting aside political differences in search of solutions to a national challenge is the second lesson the party has learnt from this experience.

While the Finance Minister has already given notice in the government gazette of his intention to publish a new bill that will retract the VAT increase, Parliament now awaits the official withdrawal of the two key money bills, and when it can expect their replacements to be tabled.