News24 | Talks continue as Ramaphosa commits to reworked Budget with 'full backing' of GNU partners

President Cyril Ramaphosa and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. (Supplied/GCIS).

• President Cyril Ramaphosa is committed to ensuring consensus between government of national unity partners on the Budget.
• Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa would continue engagements with GNU partners until Wednesday, when the Budget is scheduled to be tabled.
• Last month the Budget was postponed to 12 March following a disagreement over a proposed VAT hike.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is committed to ongoing dialogue on the Budget between government of national unity (GNU) partners, according to Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.

This comes ahead of Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's reworked Budget speech on Wednesday, after the initial speech was postponed on 19 February due to a dispute between GNU partners over a proposed VAT hike.

"The commitment remains to have the Minister of Finance present a Budget on Wednesday that has the full backing of all GNU partners. Engagements have taken place over the weekend and will continue up until Wednesday morning," Magwenya said.

He said DA leader John Steenhuisen was among the leaders Ramaphosa intended to meet between Monday and Wednesday.

Proposals on the table are under consideration, according to Magwenya.

"I can't talk on those proposals and details of the engagements," he added.

READ | Budget on the brink: No deal between ANC and DA as standoff continues

Earlier on Monday, News24 reported that with 48 hours to go for the second attempt to table the Budget in Parliament, the ANC and the DA has not reached agreement on the fiscal framework. 

There is now a high likelihood that the DA will not support the Budget, leaving the ANC to find support from other parties, such as the EFF. 

Attempts last week to reach agreement in a special Cabinet meeting were unsuccessful. 

A task team of ministers, led by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, had met earlier to consider options proposed by National Treasury last Monday. The options included VAT increases of varying magnitude. 

While the DA believed that the process to reach an agreement would continue after the special Cabinet meeting, the ANC, it seems, did not.

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni issued a statement saying the process had been left in Godongwana's hands.

READ |  Carol Paton | Tax hikes or debt: How did we get into this mess?

Ntshavheni also suggested to Cabinet colleagues that support would have to be sought from others.

Over the weekend, Steenhuisen appealed to Ramaphosa to schedule a phone call to discuss the impasse.

By Sunday evening, the call had not taken place.

According to the report, earlier in the week, the DA sent Ramaphosa a document outlining the specific terms on which it would agree to increases in taxation.

This included a formal commitment from the ANC to a comprehensive spending review and the terms and targets of the review. On Sunday, the Sunday Times reported that the GNU clearing house had agreed to a smaller VAT hike.

The impasse over the Budget began three weeks ago when Godongwana's initial proposal for a two-percentage-point (ppt) VAT increase was rejected by the Cabinet hours before it was due to be tabled. 

This was to fund R60 billion of new spending, including making the R370-a-month grant for the poor and destitute permanent. The Budget also increased other social grants by more than inflation and increased the number of VAT-exempt goods. 

After the Budget was postponed, Ramaphosa attempted to allay South Africans' fears by saying that there was no crisis.