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[File image] President Cyril Ramaphosa meets with GNU partners.
Economists say recent developments around the Government of National Unity have cast a cloud on the country’s economic future. On Wednesday, the DA voted against the 2025 fiscal framework passed by the National Assembly during a heated session.
Standard Charted Chief Economist for Africa and the Middle East Razia Khan says South Africa’s economic challenges were already present before recent global market volatility and Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.
“Investor sentiment right now is so vulnerable and so much on the back foot in any case because of global developments. But it also means that it isn’t necessarily the case that investors are going to look at the GNU in the same way as they once did. The damage is done in a sense,” says Khan.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see GNU fall apart after DA voted against the Budget: Asanda Ngoasheng
ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula says the ball is in the DA’s court on whether or not they want to stay in the GNU. This comes as the ANC and DA failed to agree on the inclusion of a VAT tax hike in the budget.
The DA has threatened legal action over the fiscal framework that was voted on in parliament.
Mbalula spoke to the SABC on the sidelines of an ANC smart membership card rollout in Diepsloot.
“It is their burden. They must answer it. If you don’t participate in a process to formulate a Budget and the Budget is passed, what does it mean for you? You can’t have it both sides. But it’s not our burden. It’s their burden. We have said to South Africa and we are still committed to it … we are principled. We are committed to GNU and making it a point that the GNU works for the stability of the country,” says Mbalula.
If the DA leaves the GNU, the ANC will have to talk to the MK or the EFF: Prof. Ntsikelelo Breakfast
