It took late-night meetings and last-minute scheming in the corridors of parliament for the ANC to push through the highly contested 0.5 percentage point VAT increase in the annual budget.
ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli played a central role and this week took the Sunday Times through the difficult negotiations after the DA, its biggest government of national unity (GNU) partner, made it clear that the ANC could not rely on it to pass the budget.
Last week it seemed all hope was lost for the ANC as one party after another closed the door on its attempts to lure them towards supporting finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s unpopular VAT increase proposal. The rejection by the biggest parties — the DA, EFF and MK Party — was a near-fatal blow to the ANC. But Ntuli was ultimately able to win over smaller parties with the potential to tilt the scales in its favour, particularly ActionSA and Build One South Africa, to get the budget over the line.
Now, with critics suggesting this means the GNU in its current configuration is all but dead, the ANC and the DA appear to be scrambling to save the coalition, with both sides admitting its collapse would be catastrophic for the economy and political stability, all the more important in the face of US President Donald Trump's recent tariff onslaught.
Critics suggest a breakup would also risk destabilising the leadership of both parties, with ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa left vulnerable to potential successors in his party, and DA leader John Steenhuisen and federal council chair Helen Zille also possibly facing heightened calls to make way for new faces.
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