Parties in the National Assembly have called for a Budget that will ramp up growth and tangible outcomes.
South Africa has been struggling to grow the economy, but opposition parties said they needed real results on the ground.
The Budget delivered by Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan today comes with former Eskom boss Brian Molefe not having been sworn in as an MP yesterday.
The House chairperson, Thoko Didiza, announced the swearing in of two ANC MPs, but not Molefe.
This was a huge surprise to those in the National Assembly.
“People don’t ask people who have not been sworn in yet. You will be advised. The two MPs were sworn in by the Deputy Speaker, Lechesa Tsenoli,” Didiza told surprised MPs.
ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu also said later that Molefe hadn't been sworn in.
“Parliament will tell you when. When he is sworn in, the presiding officers will tell the House,” said Mthembu.
On the Budget today, Mthembu said they would wait for Gordhan to tell the nation how he had allocated funding.
He said Gordhan would tell the country how the fiscus would manage under these difficult economic conditions.
ACDP leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe said the infighting in the ANC must stop, and Gordhan must be allowed to do his job.
He said the minister had done a sterling job in his time at the National Treasury, but his party was concerned about the slow growth in the economy.
“The country needs economic growth. If there are ideas how the economy will grow he must tell us,” Meshoe said. He added that investors and ratings agencies would be keeping a close eye on the Budget.
Meshoe also said he wanted Gordhan to reduce the public sector wage bill. The bill was now close to R500 billion.
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa said the three-year Budget cycle was not working for South Africa and needed to be scrapped.
He said this system robbed the nation of seeing tangible results on the ground. It was difficult to trace every billion that had been allocated because the Budget was done over a three-year period.
“A noise will be made on the billions of rand; these numbers are bandied about but you don’t see it on the ground,” he said.
“Let’s go back to the old system of budgeting for the year, then you can measure the goals,” he said.