By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the disagreements, contradictions and policy divergence are inherent in governments made up of several political parties.
This follows the postponement of Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana’s budget speech in Parliament.
Writing in his weekly newsletter on Monday, Ramaphosa said Cabinet decided to postpone the presentation of the budget to allow further discussion on areas of disagreement among parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU).
Ramaphosa is expected to chair a special GNU Cabinet meeting in Cape Town at 2pm on Monday to discuss the contentious Budget.
Last week, for the first time in the country’s history, the yearly Budget speech by Godongwana was postponed allowing further discussion on areas of disagreement among parties in the GNU. The budget will now be tabled in Parliament on March 12.
“The last-minute postponement was unfortunate. It gave rise to concern and uncertainty among South Africans, investors and the financial markets, who look to the Budget for important signals about the state and direction of our economy.
“This is the first time that the Budget is being presented by the GNU. It is understandable that this new arrangement would require a different approach in some respects. The process of forging agreement among the political parties in the GNU is still work in progress, but we are certainly getting there, Ramaphosa said.
He explained that the decision to postpone the Budget speech and to continue discussions should engender public confidence in the GNU and reassure citizens that despite differences of opinion, parties are pulling in the same direction.
“The events of last week present us with an opportunity to raise the level of understanding among South Africans around the Budget and what it means for them.
“The considerable public interest around the Budget speech, including from young people and on social media platforms, was greatly encouraging. It is our hope that this sparks a necessary national conversation on how we will fund our national priorities and the trade-offs that will need to be made,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the GNU strived to implement national priorities in a context of slow growth, limited revenue, high unemployment and a large social wage.
The State was simply not able to fund every priority and ambition, he noted.
The critical issue of the public purse must be a subject of discussion and debate not just among political parties, but among all South Africans who aspired to lead lives of dignity, he pointed out.
He highlighted that the social contract between government and the citizenry relied heavily on “accountability and transparency” and said it was essential that the concerns raised by different parties around the Budget were properly addressed, in the interests of accountability, transparency and consensus-building.
Ramaphosa pointed out that it had been more than six months since the formation of the GNU, noting that despite disagreement between parties on a range of matters, the centre held.
“It is a sign of a healthy and robust democracy that such differences may emerge from time to time and be ventilated in public. Such differences don’t mean that the GNU is in crisis. It means that democracy is working,” he explained.