In all the wholly unnecessary fuss around the spat over a 0.5 percentage point hike in VAT, politicians have lost sight of the constitutional responsibilities of the cabinet.

All in cabinet are “accountable collectively and individually to parliament for the exercise of their powers and the performance of their functions”. They must act in accordance with the constitution and report fully and regularly to parliament. These matters are all spelt out clearly in Section 92 of the constitution.

To be accountable collectively, cabinet must act collectively. That has not happened in the preparation of the budget. Instead, as is its habit, the ANC has grafted the tenets of its “democratic centralism” (the term is nowhere to be found in the constitution) onto the government of national unity (GNU) cabinet and prepared a budget accordingly, without regard to the collective accountability of GNU cabinet ministers who are not in the ANC nor in the habit of making decisions as if they are deployed cadres of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR).

The collective accountability of cabinet implies that it must reach unanimity in its decision-making processes. This has not happened in respect of the budget, hence the disarray in the GNU and in the debate on the budget. In that debate the EFF and MK had to lecture the GNU on the law that is applicable to budget making. How embarrassing. The finance minister is not a lone ranger, he is a collectively responsible cabinet member. The budget must be the product of collective decision-making in cabinet. The current fiscal framework is not.

Neither decision-making in accordance with democratic centralism’s “winners take all” system, nor private arrangements between GNU members, can trump the constitutional responsibilities and accountability of the cabinet. It remains collectively accountable for the mess it has made of the basic function of agreeing and passing a budget for the nation.

There is no point in persisting with the GNU if the ANC does not abandon its fealty to the NDR, as was suggested publicly by its Mbeki-era cabinet minister Kader Asmal many years ago. The NDR is all too often at odds with the constitution, as can be expected since it seeks a revolution, while the constitution is a transformative document that does not seek a revolution.

In its invitation to join a GNU, which the ANC national executive committee extended to all political parties represented in parliament, there was no mention of the NDR. On the contrary, the promise was to govern in accordance with the constitution and the rule of law.

Replacing that promise with the ongoing implementation of the NDR is entirely contrary to the spirit of the GNU and is also unconstitutional given the accountability and responsibilities of cabinet. If all cabinet members are not prepared to accept collective responsibility there is no point in persisting with the GNU. An election or a minority government (followed rapidly by an election) loom.

Those voters who withheld their votes in 2024 are vindicated; those who did vote have been let down by those they supported, across the board in the GNU.

Paul Hoffman SC
Director, Accountability Now