Chairpersons of Parly’s finance committees appear confident Budget 3.0 will pass
They said sufficient consultation has taken place between Government of National Unity parties ahead of Wednesday’s budget tabling to reach sufficient consensus.
Chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Songezo Zibi, at a parliamentary briefing on the national budget. Picture: Parliament/Phando Jikelo
CAPE TOWN - As the national budget process starts all over again after two failed attempts since February, the chairpersons of Parliament’s finance committees appear confident the third time will be the charm.
They said that sufficient consultation took place between the Government of National Unity (GNU) parties ahead of Wednesday’s budget tabling to reach consensus.
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Speaking at a post-budget parliamentary briefing on Thursday, the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), Songezo Zibi, said the last budget process had been overshadowed by contestation over a proposed value-added tax (VAT) increase that saw the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) head to court.
With the parliamentary budget consultation process set to start from scratch next week, Zibi has labelled the last months of the previous budget process a disaster.
But he believes the country is not in for a repeat, and that political parties would not want to see civil servants not being paid.
"So, it will pass. We will not have this scenario where the budget doesn’t pass."
Meanwhile, chairperson of the appropriations committee, Mmusi Maimane, whose Build One South Africa (BOSA) party is not part of the GNU, is also confident this budget will experience less opposition.
"It will pass. I can give that assurance. I think there’s political will to make sure it passes. I don’t think there’s a single party that wants to see the drama of the last number of months."
The finance minister will appear before a joint meeting of these committees on Friday to field questions from members of Parliament (MPs) on the latest version of the budget, which has opted for increasing the fuel levy over a VAT increase.