News24 | 'A deal is possible' - ANC, DA resume Budget negotiations as deadline looms

Deliberations between negotiating teams from the ANC and the DA on the Budget continued on Sunday afternoon after the parties' impasse on Friday seemed to imperil the coalition government. (Supplied/GCIS)

• Talks between the ANC and the DA to reach an agreement on the passing of the Budget broke down on Friday.
• These talks have since resumed, with an exchange of policy positions between the two parties.
• No deal has been struck yet, but on Sunday, the two political rivals seemed to be moving closer.

Deliberations between negotiating teams from the ANC and the DA on the Budget continued on Sunday afternoon after the parties' impasse on Friday seemed to imperil the coalition government.

A source with direct knowledge of unfolding events told News24 on Sunday that the ANC reached out to the DA after talks broke down on Friday and requested that the parties try to reach an agreement before the deadline to pass the fiscal framework is reached on Monday.

"Negotiations have resumed. They are more constructive than the previous round. A deal is possible, but none has been agreed to yet," the source explained. 

Talks between the parties broke down on Friday following the ANC's refusal to accede to the DA's demands on a range of economic matters.

These included greater DA influence and control over aspects of economic policy and decision-making, hard deadlines for implementation of a range of what the party believes are pro-growth reforms, and no increase in the VAT rate.

READ | Budget: ANC rejects DA proposal with end of GNU now a possibility

There is believed to be hard contestation inside the majority party between groupings who are opposed to working with the EFF to pass the Budget, and those in favour of such an arrangement.

The DA on Friday said it believed the ANC seemed to be deliberately seeking to collapse the government of national unity so that an alternative agreement could be reached with Julius Malema's EFF.

Since then, the ANC and the DA have discussed the latter's proposals in more detail, with the ANC also making amendments and counterproposals.

It is understood that the two rivals' positions in some areas are approaching a form of consensus, while in others, they remain apart.  

Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance is finalising its deliberations on the fiscal framework on Monday and will vote on it on Tuesday.

READ | 'Uncharted waters': ANC keeps VAT hike door open as Budget debate intensifies

Should the ANC and DA not reach an agreement before then, the DA will not support the fiscal framework when it is tabled in the National Assembly.

This will, in turn, have repercussions for the other laws the National Assembly must pass to approve the Budget, including the Appropriations Bill and the Division of Revenue Bill, as well as the Revenue Bills, which come to the House for a vote later this year.

The ANC's leadership, the national executive committee, is meeting in Boksburg on the East Rand where President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the matter later on Sunday. 

The DA's leadership, the federal executive, is also set to meet on Sunday night.

This is a developing story.