African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has echoed party Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s sentiments, that the Democratic Alliance (DA) should not preside over a budget that they did not vote for.
Mbalula briefed the media at Luthuli House in Johannesburg yesterday on the outcomes of the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting.
The DA did not support last week’s fiscal policy framework, thus prompting calls for the party to see itself out of the GNU.
Mbalula says the ANC will now reset the GNU and engage with other political parties.
“If you are part of government and you don’t agree with the budget, how do you continue to sit there. It’s a logical question that the political party concerned must answer. Because I might say that I do not agree with this budget [of] 0.5% [VAT increase] for the following reasons and I am going.”
“And when you are gone, we will close the door, sit down, then decide those reasons and decide what do we do – who comes in after you have left,” says Mbalula.
VIDEO | Mbalula briefed the media after the ANC’s NWC meeting:
Meanwhile, DA leader John Steenhuisen says they will not simply desert the GNU, instead they seek a situation where there is genuine power sharing.
“Certainly, we do not just want to walk away from the GNU. But we also cannot just remain in a situation where we are not privy to a genuine power-sharing relationship, given the fact that we did bring in 22% of the vote to this and we helped get President [Cyril] Ramaphosa elected. We are not the ones who went outside of the GNU.”
“Not once, not ever. During the course of the last few weeks as the DA, we met and spoke and engaged with every single party outside of the government of the GNU. Because we committed to our statement of intent and in working together with GNU partners,” adds Steenhuisen.
VIDEO | DA leader John Steenhuisen responds to ANC’s statement that the DA can leave the GNU if it wants to:
