Siyavuya Mzantsi

THE current deadlock in the Government of National Unity (GNU) over the proposed Value Added Tax (VAT) increase renders the coalition government, mainly between the ANC and the DA, a costly exercise to the taxpayer.

Its existence, if it continues to fail to reach consensus on critical issues such as the Budget, triggers questions about its viability. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s expansion of the executive from 62 to 77 ministers, their deputies and deputy president, cost the public purse up to R185 million in salaries per year.

As we reported previously this amount, which could rake up to R925 500 000 in five years if the Cabinet size is not changed, excludes the costs of their travel, flights, accommodation and security as well as their support staff.

Whether the GNU has shown the taxpayer value for their money remains a critical question as we examine the coalition government’s role, necessitated by the fact that the DA, the second largest party in government, has refused to support the Budget in its current form.

Without its support, the chances of having the budget adopted by the National Assembly are nil. It would then be hard to dispel the notion that the DA had little if any role in drafting this budget despite having a deputy minister in that ministry.

This again makes the GNU look rather useless if other parties to it are there to rubber-stamp ANC decisions and enjoy the perks that cost the taxpayer dearly.

In his weekly column, Economist Mushtak Parker correctly observes: “The transformation into a GNU after the general election in May 2024 raised fresh hopes and expectations among voters, especially a generation of youth who have never experienced the brutalities of living under apartheid. Judging by the reaction to the budget yet another false dawn and a lost opportunity may pass by an already clobbered nation.”

If this is the government that South Africans will be subjected to, in whose interest is the existence of the GNU serving? The current GNU tensions over the Budget justify ANC Gauteng chairperson and Premier Panyaza Lesufi for opting for a minority government with parties voting based on the issues on the table.

Maybe his comrades at the national level now regret targeting him for excluding the DA in his government.