Parliament's finance committee approves fiscal framework, revenue proposals underpinning budget
CAPE TOWN - Parliament's standing committee on finance has approved the fiscal framework and revenue proposals that underpin the 2025 budget, setting the scene for the less contentious adoption of its report in the National Assembly than was the case in March.
Following two days of deliberations, the African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA) and ActionSA voted in favour of the report.
However, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) dug in their heels saying the fuel levy is an unnecessary inclusion that will impact the poor.
Wednesday's joint meeting of the finance committees of both houses was far less tense than when it considered an earlier version of the budget framework, which contained a value-added tax (VAT) increase that split the Government of National Unity (GNU).
ALSO READ: Main opposition parties reject Treasury's assertion of pro-poor budget
However, opposition parties took issue with the increase in the fuel levy, which was included in this third version of the budget tabled by the finance minister two weeks ago.
The MK Party's Brian Molefe said other means could have been found to raise R4 billion in a R2 trillion budget.
"The fuel levy is regressive and it is not pro-growth, because the fuel levy dampens consumption, expenditure, and it is inflationary as well."
After losing Tuesday's court case on the matter, the EFF's Omphile Maotwe made one last appeal for the committee to retract the increase.
"If we can stand up and say we reject the fuel levy, that's something we can give the people of South Africa."
But with no support to force the finance minister's hand again, both opposition parties rejected the fiscal framework and the committee's report, which will be put to a house vote next Wednesday.
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And Stalinism, as history has shown us, always leads to demoralisation, disillusionment, and eventually, decay. The full swing of musical chairs, where today's hero is tomorrow's exile, will only erode talent and collapse morale. Let's not forget these are men and women with families, responsibilities, and dreams. The stress of living under constant political threat, especially in this suffocating economic climate, will eventually take its toll on them, individually and collectively. This tired line that 'political deployment is not employment' is outdated, exhausting, and frankly, dishonest. It fails to acknowledge that politicians are human beings too, with aspirations, commitments, and material needs. To pretend otherwise is to invite hypocrisy. Political deployment is labour, and those deployed are not pawns; they are professionals, cadres, and citizens. They deserve respect, not permanent precarity. It may appear, for now, that members of the MK Party are content with these purges. That they clap as Comrades are fired. But don't be fooled. That is fear, not approval. That is survivalism, not loyalty. Zuma's Stalinist approach is unsustainable and will inevitably face a serious internal ideological offensive, as there are tried and tested Communists within the MK Party. If they surrender their ideological discipline just to stay in Zuma's good graces, then they are betraying more than themselves. They are betraying the memory of the Communist International. They are betraying a generation. And if that is the path the MK Party takes, then history will not be kind. As I conclude, it is imperative to surface what might well be the most consequential development regarding the MK Party: it now finds itself, by sheer electoral outcome and political reconfiguration, as the Official Opposition Party. This status is not merely symbolic; it carries with it a constitutional weight and a historic responsibility. With the Democratic Alliance (DA) having opted to join the Government of National Unity (GNU), the DA has effectively vacated the oppositional bench it once occupied with forceful intensity. The MK Party, however, has not yet settled into this new role. It is not combative, nor intellectually coherent, in the manner the DA once was in opposition. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), with all their contradictions, are currently outpacing the MK Party in opposition performance.
