THE ANC failed to get a quorum to pass the budget in Parliament despite having a huge majority in the House yesterday.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu protested to Speaker Baleka Mbete that opposition parties sabotaged their vote on the approval of the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill.
Mthembu said when they voted on the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill, which was tabled by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan last month, a total of 195 MPs were present. But the EFF did not vote at all on the bill, leaving the rerun for another day.
Mthembu described this as an anomaly and Mbete promised to investigate it.
Earlier, a shell-shocked Mthembu was left stunned when opposition parties staged a walkout before the approval of the Medium Term Budget, leading to a failure by Parliament to get a quorum to approve the budget.
Yesterday, the ANC was short of five MPs to pass the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill.
The majority party has 249 MPs in the National Assembly, but only 195 showed up to vote yesterday.
Failure to approve the budget will force Parliament to find another day soon.
The DA had earlier questioned the ANC on whether there were sufficient members on its side to vote on the bill. But Mthembu said there was no need to check on the quorum of Parliament. This was after some of the opposition MPs had walked out before the vote.
Yesterday’s failure by many of the ANC MPs to attend the plenary cost the party valuable time to approve the budget. There were effectively three weeks left before Parliament closes for the year.
The ANC has to act within the next three weeks to approve the budget.