Statement on Parliament's handling of the Budget Vote

15 July 2024

The MK Party expresses profound disappointment and disgust at the unprofessional and attempted bullying manner in which Parliament has handled the Debates on Budget Vote schedule. In a closed session of the Chief Whips meeting yesterday morning, there was a clear agreement to postpone the Debate on the Budget Votes.

This postponement was necessary to allow MK Party as the official opposition of the 7th Administration and its members sufficient time to review them, given that the Departments had months to compile them during the rotten and corrupt 6th Administration of Cyril Ramaphosas ANC. However, late yesterday evening and without regard to our genuine requests as a voice of the downtrodden people, Parliament unexpectedly and unilaterally sent a list indicating that some budget votes would proceed between today the 11 July 2024 and July 12, 2024, contrary to the discussion outcomes and agreement on the postponement.

Debates on the Vote are critical platforms for political parties to present the political and policy posture of the party, whilst dispelling any regressive policies of the ANC of Ramaphosa’s GNU. As usual, the ANC’s Parliamentary representatives continue to be fork-tongued.

To make matters worse, and in a further unsurprising and punitive act against our legitimate requests, the list of Departments required to present their budget votes was further changed and increased. This blatant disregard for the prior agreement is unacceptable and indicative of the DANC coalition's attempt to force us to rubber-stamp their budget vote.

We view this as nothing but an effort to cover up poor performance and corruption that the DANC coalition seeks to hide. The MK Party will not stand by while these underhanded tactics are employed. We will be writing an urgent letter to the clearly compromised Speaker of Parliament, demanding an explanation of what led to these budget speeches suddenly going ahead outside of a joint decision taken.

This postponement would be essential in allowing MK Party members adequate time to thoroughly read and interrogate the budget votes. We call on all members of Parliament to uphold the principles of transparency, accountability, and fairness.

The MK Party remains steadfast in its commitment to protecting the interests of the people and ensuring that the budget vote process is conducted with integrity, transparency, and professionalism.

Issued by MK Party, 15 July 2024