Speaker Thoko Didiza rejects EFF and DA request to withdraw budget report

Speaker of parliament Thoko Didiza has turned down a request by the DA and the EFF for the withdrawal of the standing committee on finance report which adopted the budget.

This comes after the two parties wrote to Didiza just hours before the plenary to adopt the report was meant to start at 2pm.

In the letter seen by TimesLIVE, DA chief whip George Michalakis requested that the report be referred back to the committee for “proper and lawful” consideration. EFF chief whip Nontando Nolutshungu threatened legal action, saying the party would seek an interdict against the proceeding to prevent the tabling and processing of the report adopted “in violation of the law”.

Parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo confirmed receipt of the correspondence from the EFF to TimesLIVE but said there would be a response in due course. 

On Tuesday, during a drawn-out meeting which saw parties within the GNU disagreeing on the budget, the parties debated amendments they wanted to introduce to the report on Godongwana’s March budget speech, which proposed a 0.5 percentage point VAT hike for each of the next two years.

Six MPs from ActionSA, the ANC and the IFP voted in favour of the report with amendments when finance committee chair Joe Maswanganyi put it to a vote.

This was after ActionSA tabled a motion to accept the report, with a proposal that the VAT hikes be rejected and Godongwana given 30 days to offer revenue alternatives.

This was part of a behind-the-scenes deal struck by the three parties to get the budget approved by the full sitting of parliament on Wednesday, TimesLIVE reported on Tuesday.

Michalakis said the meeting of the standing committee on finance referred to section 8(4) of the Money Bills Amendment Procedure and Related Matters Act which requires that the report must include a clear statement accepting or amending the fiscal framework and revenue proposals.

He said in terms of the procedure followed on Tuesday in the committee, the final position on the paper was never put before the committee.

“The committee simply considered the framework clause by clause, without a final version setting out the clear statement. The clear statement accepting or amending the fiscal framework and revenue proposals was never put to the committee for final adoption; amendments were added retrospectively.

“In essence, therefore, the most important part of the report before the house today was never formally adopted by the committee as required by the act. This constitutes a fundamental procedural failure, despite members of the committee throughout calling for an updated version of the report to know exactly what they were adopting — and is unlawful.”

Michalakis argues that Rule 166(3)(a) further states that a report of a committee must be formally adopted by the committee, adding that this applies to the entirety of the report.

“It is therefore not a report adopted by the committee. The report also neither accepts nor amends the fiscal framework but makes recommendations about the framework. That too is inconsistent with section 8(4).

“I therefore respectfully submit to you that should the vote in the house proceed on this basis today, considering what is essentially an unlawful report, any resolution of the House would subsequently be unlawful. We place on record that as a matter of law, even if the House were to adopt the flawed report, the VAT increase will still come into effect on May 1 2025,” he said.

This comes after TimesLIVE reported that President Cyril Ramaphosa had called out the DA for “defining itself out of the GNU” during an ANC caucus meeting on Tuesday night.

Ramaphosa told the party’s parliamentarians the DA had locked itself into an unenviable position by rejecting the budget.

“You must not interrupt your adversary as they are making a mistake, and they can see they put themselves into a cul-de-sac. It is the most unpleasant position they have put themselves into.”

Ramaphosa said he had spoken to DA leader John Steenhuisen on Tuesday afternoon, who asked him: “Where do we go now?”

“I said the ball is entirely in your court. He asked if the ANC says we should leave the GNU. I said the ball is on your court. You have put yourself in this position, so you need to work your way out. You took a decision in the committee. That was the choice you made.”

Nolutshungu said the issue of the record is of utmost importance. She said the official recording and minutes of the meeting will confirm that the committee chairperson, Joe Maswanganyi, did not table a question to the committee or formulate the resolution on whether the fiscal framework is accepted or amended.

She said instead, members were simply asked to vote on the adoption of the report, which was a procedural motion that cannot substitute the legal requirement for a clear, prior resolution on the fiscal framework itself.

“This evidentiary failure renders the report procedurally defective and vulnerable to legal challenge. This sequencing violates the law. The 'clear statement' required by section 8(4) must form part of the report before its adoption, it cannot be inserted post-factum on the assumption that the absence of amendments equates to support. Such a practice opens the door to administrative abuse, misrepresentation of committee decisions and illegality,” Nolutshungu said.

TimesLIVE