Final leg of national budget process in peril amid DA's plans to boycott budgets of compromised ministers

CAPE TOWN - The final leg of the national budget process could hit another snag amid the Democratic Alliance (DA)'s plans to boycott the budgets of at least two departments presided over by compromised ministers.

A parliamentary legal opinion suggests that the Appropriation Bill can only be passed if all departmental votes have been agreed to.

If the DA follows through with this threat, it means the African National Congress (ANC) might again have to shop around for votes to ensure the bill crosses the line when it's put to the vote in three weeks' time.

Over the weekend, DA leader John Steenhuisen said that while his party would reject some departmental votes, it would not vote against the Appropriation Bill as a whole.

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Steenhuisen said the protest action was in response to the ANC not acting against those fingered in corruption, while firing a DA deputy minister for unsanctioned travel.

But a legal opinion to Parliament's Standing Committee on Appropriations advises that all of the 42 separate votes have to be passed first, before the schedule to the bill can be put to the vote.

This means if the Government of National Unity (GNU) is not united on even one of the departmental votes, the bill can not be put to the House for approval.

"The Public Finance Management Act requires that Parliament first approves the votes in Schedule 1 to the Appropriation Bill and then consider Schedule 1 for approval. The National Assembly rule 328, gives effect to this provision by requiring the same procedure," reads the legal opinion.

The DA's latest pushback against the ANC could once again put the ANC in a budget predicament.

In March, it had to rely on parties outside of the coalition to shore up the votes needed to pass the fiscal framework, which underpinned a previous version of the budget, which was also rejected by the DA and Freedom Front Plus.

Now it may have to do so again to ensure the budgets of all departments, including those run by ministers who don't meet the DA's approval, are passed.

The Appropriation Bill must be passed within four months of the start of a financial year, which is the end of July, else departments' spending will be severely curtailed to only 10 percent monthly of the previous year's budget.