06 June 2025

In the 2024 National General Elections, the African National Congress committed to focus on 6 priorities to get South Africa back on track on the developmental path outlined in the National Development Plan, to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. On top of our priorities as the ANC is a Jobs Plan, and building our industries, and tackling the cost of living.

These priorities are also in the 3 priorities of the Government of National Unity. The Policy objectives of government contained in the Medium-Term Development Plan of the seventh administration, has implications for the budget. The ANC is of the position that the process of aligning the budget, and the policy objectives is an ongoing process as the Budgeting cycle is an ever evolving one under changing conditions.

As Parliament, we have a continuous oversight obligation over the budget cycle as required by the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act of 2009. To claim that the process undertaken in the Budget of 2025 has resulted in an erosion of fiscal and parliamentary integrity reflects a residual comprehension of the overall aspects which contribute to fiscal credibility. Fiscal credibility also request adherence to existing legislative and policy imperatives of budget and the required accountability and oversight.

There cannot be a fiscal integrity challenges when we have one of the most transparent budget process in the world which has been stress tested under the current conditions of a coalition government, but the existing processes have proven to be robust.

We cannot have a fiscal credibility problem when we have one of the most effective Auditor General Office which is a Chapter 9 Institution which functions independently. We should state in this house that one of the premises of the MK Zuma Party was its request to the Auditor General of South Africa to undertake a special audit alleging that the postponement of the budget has led to wasteful spending. This is a sheer misunderstanding of the importance of democratic process which are an integral of governance processes. Any decision that promotes public involvement is not a waste of public resources but a support of democracy.

In line with the Investigations and Special Audits Regulations,we believe the discretion of the AG to reject the request was prudent in line with its functions, as the information requested by the MK Party can be reported by the National Treasury and respective organs of states. The request made by the MK Party was frivolous and it would have led to the organs of state incurring additional audit fees expenditure as an audit, comes at a cost. This is the frivolous premise behind the motion we debate today.

The ANC call on all sector of society to continue to be involved and engaged in various policy debates which impact the country and the wellbeing of all South Africans.

The 2025 budget is about increasing spending to respond to critical policy priorities to create jobs, to industrialise and reindustrialise our economy and expand social services and ensure reliability and affordability.

These are the objectives that had to be advanced by the budget under conditions of increasing risks of high debt servicing costs which are crowding out non-interest expenditure.

The decision of the government to retract the VAT increase has resulted in an inflation linked increase of the Fuel levy which will have an inflationary impact in the economy posing a risk on the cost of living and the cost of production. The ANC has resolved to continue engagements with other political parties and the National Treasury in exploring other revenue proposals to enhance our fiscal balance.

The debates we had as Members of Parliament and society have resulted in a Peoples budget as it protects our frontline workers who are critical to the quality of service provided for the people.

We are confident that government will continue to enhance its mechanisms to take into consideration various policy proposals from Parliament and the public and we will continue to focus on various aspects of fiscal policy with the aim of shaping the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement toward the 2026 budget.

As the ANC, we are weary of the intention of opposition parties which seek to derail the adoption of the budget to win what they did not win in the ballot. Any threat to the adoption of the budget is a risk to the stability of the country and will negatively impact the poor, workers and the public service and the ANC will not allow a situation where most of our people and society is vulnerable to risks of an inability to finance government processes due to a budget that is not adopted.

We believe that the 2025 budget process has enhanced the public’s understanding of the budgeting processes and the various trade-offs that government must factor, to ensure we continue to tackle the legacy of colonialism and apartheid.

We must mobilise the people to also be involved in processes which are related to public accountability to ensure that government officials and those entrusted with the power to represent the people utilise state resources in the best interest of the country.

The Minister of Finance and Cabinet have done the best under the conditions and more can be done. The ANC welcomes the budget because it aligns with our policy priorities, and it defends the democratic gains and advance the interest of the poor and South Africa.