President Cyril Ramaphosa said the postponement of the budget speech should not be seen as a “crisis” but rather a “Democracy at work.”
Ramaphosa was speaking on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers meeting at Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg on Thursday.
He gave the opening remarks at the meeting.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet postponed the budget speech to March after parties failed to agree on the proposed 2% VAT increase.
The postponement is to allow more engagement on the matter, he said.
This was the first time that the budget was delayed in the country but Ramaphosa said it was not the first in the world, so “let’s move on.”
“This, in many ways, should not be seen as a crisis. Other people describe it as a crisis,” Ramaphosa said, stating that budgets around the world have hiccups.
“What happened yesterday, is in many ways, the shortcomings of our own democracy. Some people have said this is democracy at work and I tend to agree and there are many lessons that would have been learned about what happened yesterday.”
Ramaphosa maintained that the decision was collective and one-sided, and therefore the party in the Government of National Unity (GNU) will go back to the drawing board and try to find each other.
“We are in the GNU system now, and in the end, no one party will be able to truly impose anything without much negotiation and discussion.
“GNU means you have to work with others and forge a unity,” he said.
Despite denying that the budget was moved because of party politics, the DA threatened to reject the budget had it been passed through.
This prompted Ramaphosa to call a cabinet meeting at the eleventh hour.
IOL Politics