Former minister of higher education Nobuhle Nkabane. (X)
The National Assembly has approved the 2025-26 Appropriations Bill by 262 votes to 90, pushing through the first step in finalising the national budget, despite tension in the government of national unity (GNU) and growing pressure from opposition benches.
All 10 parties that form the GNU — the ANC, Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Patriotic Alliance (PA), Freedom Front Plus (FF+), Good party, Rise Mzansi, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and Al Jama-ah — supported the Bill.
The vote followed a day-long sitting at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, where Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo warned MPs of the consequences of failing to pass the Bill.
“Without passing this Bill, the government will lose authority to spend beyond 45% of last year’s budget after July,” Masondo said.
This meant departments would not be able to pay salaries or sustain basic services.
He urged MPs to stay focused and ensure that service delivery was not interrupted. “This Bill must be passed in full to allow departments to function properly,” he said.
The Bill allocates R1.2 trillion over the medium term. Of this, R400 billion has been earmarked for transport infrastructure, R220 billion for energy initiatives and R160 billion for water and sanitation. Additional funds have been allocated to public health, education and social protection.
MPs were allowed to indicate if they wished to vote differently from their party, but none did.
Committee chairperson Mmusi Maimane called for efficient governance despite the difficult economic conditions. “This budget takes place under severely constrained economic conditions. We must ensure our budgeting processes are efficient so that the people of South Africa can participate fully in their own appropriation.”
Despite the passage of the Bill, the debate exposed tensions in the coalition government partners, with DA MP Andrew Whitfield making it clear that support for the budget should not be mistaken for consensus.
“We don’t need a national dialogue. We need more dialogue between the ANC and the DA,” he said, referring to unresolved tensions between the two parties over corrupt ministers in the ANC’s ranks.
The DA had initially signalled it would not support the individual budgets of departments implicated in corruption, but changed its mind after President Cyril Ramaphosa removed higher education minister Nobuhle Nkabane, who is accused of misleading parliament regarding board appointments at Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas).
Ramaphosa dismissed Nkabane earlier in the week and appointed her deputy, Buti Manamela, as higher education minister, with former KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube coming in as the new deputy minister.
MPs warned Manamela that they would do to him what they did to Nkabane if he did not perform, with EFF MP Sihle Lonzi saying they would work with him because he had shown a willingness to fix students’ accommodation problems at tertiary institutions and the dysfunction of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
The Patriotic Alliance’s Ashley Sauls criticised delays and politicking ahead of the Bill, arguing that the DA had only supported it after scoring political points against the ANC in the form of Nkabane’s axing.
“What we’ve learnt through this process is that we’ve placed politics above people,” Sauls said.
Good party leader Patricia de Lille said the Bill was necessary but insufficient. “A basic income grant is not radical. What is radical is a country where half the population lives in poverty,” she said.
Rise Mzansi leader Songezo Zibi said although the departmental budgets are not perfect, debating forever without supporting the Bill would imperil the poorest in the country.
The IFP, FF+ and UDM, while supporting the Bill, raised concerns about the lack of targeted interventions, with IFP MP Nhlanhla Hadebe arguing that poverty and youth unemployment were not being adequately addressed.
The Freedom Front Plus MP, Wouter Wessels, called for tighter fiscal controls, while the UDM’s Nqabayomzi Kwankwa said the budget offered hope but fell short on public participation.
“The budget makes us feel like we are going to get there,” he said.
The official opposition uMkhonto weSizwe party and Economic Freedom Fighters opposed the bill. EFF legislator Omphile Maotwe accused the coalition government of using the national budget to manage internal power plays.
“For the supervisors in the government on neoliberal unity, led by the chief supervisor Ms Helen Zille [the DA federal council chair] the budget is the tool to fight political squabbles,” Maotwe said.
The MK party’s Wesley Douglas described the Bill as “morally indefensible”, accusing the unity government of betraying its mandate, while the ATM’s Vuyolwethu Zungula said white-owned businesses still retain “a large portion of the state budget”.
“That is not transformation,” he said.
The United Africans Transformation and National Coloured Congress parties also voted against the Bill, arguing it entrenched inequality and failed to break from “neoliberal policies”.
Attendance was decisive. Of the ANC’s 159 MPs, 144 were present while the DA had 76 of 87 MPs in attendance. The IFP had 12 out of 17 and the PA’s legislators were in full attendance, with all nine voting in favour of the budget. The FF Plus’s five members were present and voted in favour.
All ACDP, UDM, Rise Mzansi, Al Jama-ah, ActionSA and Build One South Africa MPs were also present.
The Appropriations Bill now proceeds to its second stage, which involves detailed vote-by-vote scrutiny of departmental allocations. The final reading is expected before the end of the month, after which the Bill will be sent to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence.