ANC reaches out to BOSA in bid to secure crucial budget votes

The Standing Committee on Appropriations Chairperson and BOSA leader, Mmusi Maimane delivers pre-budget remarks at Parliament in Cape Town on March 10, 2025.

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Build One South Africa (BOSA) has confirmed that the African National Congress (ANC) has approached the party to request a meeting on the national budget, which Parliament is set to vote on next week.

The ANC is negotiating with a number of parties, including those outside the Government of National Unity (GNU), in an attempt to gain support for the adoption of the budget amidst a GNU impasse.

Earlier this month, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana proposed a 0.5% Value-Added Tax (VAT) increase in the 2025/2026 financial year and another 0.5% increase for the 2026/2027 financial year, bringing VAT to 16%.

BOSA leader, Mmusi Maimane, says his party will only support a budget that serves the best interests of South Africans.

Maimane says, “As we look at the budget currently, the budget is punitive in that it punishes citizens for corruption, that means that they have to pay VAT and pay back that money, and secondly, it speaks to a state that is not willing to make hard choices.”

“So on the expenditure side, you are seeing, in the budget, a lot of items that don’t necessarily deliver growth but are suitable for the state, and so, what we’re going to negotiate for is to say, let us save South Africans money.”

He adds, “Let us make some profound cuts and make sure that we can free up resources that can be deployed into productive assets that deliver growth.”