DA plans to withhold support on some departmental budget votes as national budget deadline looms
CAPE TOWN - As Parliament heads into the final leg of the budget approval cycle, the Democratic Alliance (DA)'s plan to withhold support on some votes could cause another stumbling block in passing the Appropriation Bill, which apportions money to all national departments.
It's the latest salvo fired by the party in response to the axing of its Eastern Cape leader, Andrew Whitfield, as the deputy minister of trade, industry and competition.
But the fallout has not taken the DA to the brink of quitting the Government of National Unity (GNU).
On Saturday, the party announced that it was withdrawing from the National Dialogue over what it said were double standards being applied by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
READ: Steenhuisen labels removal of Andrew Whitfield as a 'calculated assault' by Ramaphosa
Parliament will this week get stuck into a tight schedule of departmental budget vote debates as it races towards an end-of-July deadline to get the national budget passed.
But DA leader John Steenhuisen said while his party would not reject the budget as a whole, ministers accused of corruption can't expect support from his party when it comes to approving money for their departments.
"The ball is in the president and the African National Congress (ANC)'s court. If they want to take a strong stance against us, if they want to stop us from taking a strong stance against corruption, well then they must fire us from the Government of National Unity."
READ: 'Even if the DA walks away, GNU will not collapse' - ANC's Mbalula
Steenhuisen said that civil society should also rail against the National Dialogue until Ramaphosa fired what the party has termed "delinquents" from the executive.
"The president has made a big deal this week about his prerogative. If he feels that we've done something wrong, and that standing up against corruption is something that deserves punishment, then he must exercise that prerogative."
Steenhuisen said that tabling a motion of no confidence in the president's ability to deal with corruption was not off the table.
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