MK Party Secretary-General Floyd Shivambu says the party will not allow the ANC to use it as a spare wheel to resolve the National Budget impasse.
This follows tensions between the ANC and its largest Government of National Unity (GNU) partner the DA over the ANC’s proposed increase in Value-Added Tax (VAT).
The DA voted against the 2025 Budget tabled by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana last month, which proposed a 0.5% VAT increase.
The ANC has since been engaging parties inside and outside the GNU to find alternatives and secure support for the budget.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a lecture in Soweto celebrating party leader Jacob Zuma’s birthday, Shivambu made it clear that the MK Party will not take part in any GNU-related dealings.
“We got a letter from the ANC Secretary-General and we responded to say we do not want to enter the so-called Government of National Unity. If they’ve got a budget impasse, it is their own issue. They’ve constituted a government with representatives of the colonial system, of racism, of apartheid. So, they must see to finish as to how they handle their own issues. They can’t utilize us as some spare wheel which they’re going to use to scare the Democratic Alliance. That for them to win their immediate gains, they will go to MK, and then MK will rush as if we’re desperate for power.”
Shivambu reiterated that the MK Party will not participate in what he described as political machinations within the GNU and emphasized their independent stance regarding budgetary matters.
“The ANC has written to us. We have responded to say we don’t want to get involved in the affairs of the so-called GNU, let them deal with their issues. We have got the relevant platforms as the MK where we are going to articulate our position as to what is to be done in terms of the budgeting framework, in terms of the money bills that are still going to serve in Parliament.”
He firmly stated that the MKP will not support any budget that includes allocations to what he termed “representatives of oppression.”
“One thing for sure, as long as the GNU includes the DA and all these other aspects, we are not going to allocate any budget as MK to representatives of oppression to expend on land, on basic education. We will never support that budget.”
WATCH: Floyd Shivambu talks to SABC ahead of the Inaugural Jacob Zuma lecture
