South African politics are going to get much more interesting come 2 April 2025.
This is the day on which political parties in the national Parliament will once and for all decide whether the much-maligned budget delivered reluctantly by the somewhat inarticulate Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana will be adopted or not.
What immediately comes to mind is that various political parties have actually rejected both the original and revised budget proposals put forward by the hapless Godongwana as a way of settling old scores and not because they care for the poor.
If political parties really cared for the poor, then they would have lobbied for the following:
1. No increase to their already exorbitant salaries and an end to all and any perks that they enjoy as Members of Parliament.
2. A louder and more emphatic voice for the poor by ditching the present proportional representation system and replace it with the Constituency-based system as proposed by the late Dr Van Zyl Slabbert many moons ago.
The Constituency-based system allows citizens, including the poor, to elect the country’s president directly and also allows all regions of the country to elect their own Parliamentary representatives at grassroots level.
This is in stark contrast to the present proportional representation system which gives political parties the right to hand pick sycophants, disgraced creatures and outright crooks and send them to Parliament as “representatives of the people.”
Now instead of adopting the aforesaid altruistic measures, our political parties would rather stay on in Parliament and “speak for the poor,” as if the poor can’t speak for themselves.
It goes without saying that without representatives in Parliament many of our political parties would die a natural death because they actually do no advocacy work or any tangible tasks at grassroots level.
Before I digress, let me get back to the issue of settling old scores.
The DA is bitter over the BELA Act, NHI and the Expropriation Act and will therefore not support the adoption of the budget.
The message being sent to the ANC here is that this is pay-back time.
The EFF has also voiced its opposition to Godongwana’s budget proposal, merely out of spite to make sure that the ruling party doesn’t get the 50+1 percent majority it needs to get the budget adopted in Parliament.
But since there are suggestions that the EFF might vote with the ANC after all, this scenario will force the DA to exit the GNU because there is no way Malema and the red berettes brigade would work with the DA.
The message from Malema to the ANC would be clear and simple: we will support you in adopting the budget but you must kick the DA out of the GNU and give us all the Ministerial posts and deputy Ministers’ posts which John Steenhuisen and his cohorts are presently occupying.
It is a well-known fact that Malema has an old score to settle with the DA and kicking them out of the GNU would leave him gloating for years and more.
Affectionately called “Warra” (brother) by those with an affinity to the Limpopo Province, Malema also has a score to settle with the MK Party after it overtook him as the country’s third largest political party and subsequently “stealing” his members like Floyd Shivambu, Dali Mpofu and Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
He will easily leave the MK Party in the lurch of the so-called Progressive Forces and work with his pet hate President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Another thing, Malema has realised that shouting aimlessly in Parliament as an opposition won’t help him much; that it is now time to show South Africans that he is ready to govern, and the best way to showcase his ability in this regard is to get the EFF to occupy a few Ministerial posts in the GNU.
Malema is now in the position of being the proverbial king-maker and this would mean the DA will be out of the GNU.
DA leader John Steenhuisen warned of the “Doomsday Coalition” (a government comprising ANC, EFF etc) during election time, and now it seems like his worst fears will materialise.
But Steenhuisen musn’t blame anyone here, because his brinkmanship regarding the budget, Expropriation Act, BELA Act and NHI have left the ANC with no choice but to fall into “the loving arms” of king-maker Malema.
It must be pointed out that if Malema eventually joins the GNU, it would not be because he has forgiven the ANC and Ramaphosa of their “sins” against him.
He would be going there to learn some tricks, earn more perks and enjoy the limelight as a Cabinet Minister while plotting the eventual downfall of the ANC government.