National Assembly passes Appropriation Bill, sending it to the NCOP for concurrence

The National Assembly passed the Budget for 2025/26 on Wednesday before transmitting the Appropriation Bill to the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence.

The Bill was initially passed during the First Reading when it mustered 262 votes against 90 votes.

The schedule of all the departmental votes later sailed smoothly when 260 voted in favour and 88 against.

The Second Reading of the Appropriation Bill was agreed to after the MK Party, which changed its support and blamed confusion on mistaking its vote for the Ad Hoc Committee established to probe allegations made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.

However, the DA became the toast of some parties during the earlier vote for the Human Settlements Department budget.

The party had threatened not to vote for the budget of compromised ministers such as Human Settlements Thembi Simelane and Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane.

This was after its former deputy minister, Andrew Whitfield, was fired from the executive for taking an overseas trip without authorisation from President Cyril Ramaphosa earlier this year.

It reversed its decision after Nkabane was axed earlier this week amid the scandal over the now-cancelled appointment of Sector and Education Training Authority board chairpersons.

EFF leader Julius Malema mused when the budget for Human Settlements Department was up for a vote, saying: “let's go, let's see”.

“We want to see those ones, there,” Malema said in reference to the DA.

ActionSA Lerato Ngobeni said the manipulative chest-pained DA was flip-flopping on principles by declaring it would not support corruption-accused Simelane, only to backtrack days later.

“ActionSA remains consistent. We will vote against the budget riddled with failure, a budget that no rational party with integrity can support. ActionSA will not support vote 33 for the department of refugee camps,” Ngobeni said.

National Coloured Congress leader Fadiel Adams said they would also not vote for the department’s budget for the same reasons as proposed by ActionSA.

“We watch in anticipation to see the DA sell their last principles of blue lights. But remember, this is the same DA responsible for the housing crisis in the Western Cape, the same people who sent back R1 billion to the National Treasury unspent because squatter camps and filthy Cape Flats are why they exist,” Adams.

The vote for the Human Settlements was agreed to with the DA's support after securing 255 votes against 97.

After budget votes for other departments, Malema raised the issue of the Human Settlements Department budget.

“I want you to make an emphasis the DA voted for the Human settlements budget,” he said in reference to House chairperson Cedric Frolick.

But, DA leader John Steenhuisen said his party’s vote for the national Budget marked the successful conclusion of the 2025 Budget process.

Steenhuisen said his party played a critical role in shaping the Budget, citing the scrapping of the proposed 2% VAT increase and their insistence on the removal of ministers implicated in unlawful conduct.

“We welcome the president’s decision to act decisively against Minister Nkabane by removing her from office. This move was necessary, appropriate, and signals a renewed commitment to restoring the integrity of the GNU,” he said.

“While this is only one step, it is a meaningful one in the broader fight against entrenched corruption. What the country needs now is consistency in applying these principles across the board,” Steenhuisen said.

DA deputy chief whip Baxolile Nodada said that when they indicated that they would not support the budget of the Higher Education Department, it was something based on a principle.

“We would never tolerate any form of corruption or mishandling or misleading of Parliament at any given point. Whoever thinks it is cheap political points and does not understand the Constitution and the rules of the House, maybe they should go and study it. Ultimately, the DA supports this vote,” said Nodada.

mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za