By Simon Nare
President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged ordinary citizens to seize the opportunity presented by the postponement of the 2025 budget to deepen their understanding of its implications and what it means for them.
Writing in his weekly newsletter on Monday, Ramaphosa said it was greatly encouraging to witness the public engagement on social media sparked by the postponement.
He wrote that the government’s hope that this interest will stimulate a vital national dialogue on funding national priorities and the necessary trade-offs.
The president said although the postponement was unfortunate it should not however plant any doubt about the resolve of the Government of National Unity.
He added that the last-minute postponement gave rise to concerns and uncertainty among South Africans.
That also spread to investors and financial markets who look to the budget for important signals about the state and direction of the economy.
“Cabinet decided to postpone the presentation of the budget to allow further discussion on areas of disagreement among parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU),” wrote the president.
“This is the first time that the budget is being presented by the Government of National Unity (GNU). It is understandable that this new arrangement would require a different approach in some respects. The process of forging agreement among the political parties in the GNU is still work in progress, but we are certainly getting there.”
He added that disagreements, contradictions and policy divergence were inherent in governments made up of several political parties and such differences don’t mean that the GNU is in crisis. It meant that democracy was working.
Ramaphosa said a GNU by definition inferred consensus-building and no one party could impose its will and there needed to be thorough deliberation and meaningful engagement.
“It is therefore essential that the concerns raised by different parties around the budget are properly addressed, in the interests of accountability, transparency and consensus-building.
“It has been more than six months since the formation of the GNU. Despite disagreement between parties on a range of matters, the centre holds. It is a sign of a healthy and robust democracy that such differences may emerge from time to time and be ventilated in public,” he said.
The president said the postponement and the commitment to continue discussing the matter should engender public confidence in the GNU and reassure the nation that despite differences of opinion, the parties were pulling in the same direction.
He committed the GNU to continue working for the people as it has done in the past to overcome differences and they will once again find one another.
“The reality is that we strive to implement our national priorities in a context of slow growth, limited revenue, high unemployment and a large social wage. The state is simply not able to fund every priority and ambition.”
“The critical issue of the public purse must be a subject of discussion and debate not just among political parties, but among all South Africans who aspire to lead lives of dignity,” he wrote.
INSIDE POLITICS
