The National Assembly approved the Appropriation Bill on Wednesday, with 90 members voting against it and 262 in favour.
The political parties represented in the National Assembly that voted in favour of the Appropriation Bill are ANC, DA, IFP, Patriotic Alliance (PA), Freedom Front Plus, ActionSA, ACDP, UDM, Rise Mzansi, Build One South Africa (Bosa), Al-Jamah, PAC, and Good Party.
The MK Party, EFF, African Transformation Movement (ATM), National Coloured Congress (NCC), and the United Africans Transformation (UAT) voted against the bill. There were no abstentions.
Expenditure of public funds
The bill provides for the appropriation of funds from the national revenue fund for the 2025-2026 financial year.
The bill outlines fund allocations to national departments and public entities, and it also includes transfers to provinces and municipalities through conditional grants, equitable shares, and other funding mechanisms to support the fulfilment of their constitutional obligations.
The bill authorises the expenditure of public funds.
During the debate at the Cape Town International Convention Centre, MK Party MP Wesley Douglas said the party does not support the Appropriation Bill because it is flawed.
“This bill is fiscally flawed and morally bankrupt. With current GDP [gross domestic product] growth at 1.4%, that is not enough to deal with unemployment. Forty-five percent of young people are without jobs,” said Douglas.
“This bill is a financial illusion. It cannot be supported because it involves the slashing of hospitals, closing of schools, and a debt service of R1-billion per day.
“The GNU [government of national unity] sold out. This bill prioritises austerity over prosperity. This budget with corporate bailouts takes from the [low-income earners] and feeds the rich.”
Shortage of doctors
EFF MP Omphile Maotwe said the party does not support the bill because it does nothing to deal with the shortage of doctors in hospitals and teachers in schools.
“This budget does not care about the [low-income earners]. There is no amendment to this bill to increase the budget to hire 9 000 doctors that are unemployed and increase basic education funding to ensure that there are no teacher vacancies and no pit toilets,” according to Maotwe.
“This bill has not been amended to allow Statistics South Africa to increase its budget so that it can hire quality professionals to do its work.
“This bill has not increased the SARS [South African Revenue Service] budget to R4-billion yearly so that it can collect around R700-billion in revenue as requested by the SARS commissioner,” said Maotwe.
ATM MP Vuyo Zungula said the party does not support the bill because the governing parties lack the political will to change the structure of South Africa’s economy.
“This bill includes the increase in the fuel levy and the increase in the price of electricity. It does not include any solutions to enhance job creation and alleviate poverty and inequality,” said Zungula.
Protection of vulnerable
ANC MP and Finance Deputy Minister David Masondo said the ANC supports the bill because it allows for the R2-trillion budget to deliver basic services to communities.
“This bill will ensure the government protects the vulnerable, invests in the future, provides school meals, hospital beds, and social grants, and implements infrastructure projects,” said Masondo.
During the manual voting, the results in favour of the bill were as follows: ANC (144 votes), DA (76 votes), IFP (12 votes), PA (nine votes), FF Plus (five votes), ActionSA (five votes), ACDP (two votes), UDM (two votes), Rise Mzansi (two votes), Bosa (two votes), Al-Jamah, PAC, and Good Party (one vote each).
The results of the parties that voted against the bill were as follows: MK Party (51 votes), EFF (36 votes), ATM, NCC, and UAT (one vote each).
