‘How can we approve it with no figures’ – Hlophe questions Ramaphosa on Presidency budget

President Cyril Ramaphosa has come under fire for presenting his office’s budget plan without including any figures.

On Tuesday, Ramaphosa opened the budget vote debate on the Presidency’s budget and annual performance plan in Parliament.

Presidency oversight

In the debate, African National Congress (ANC) chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli dismissed suggestions that the government of national unity (GNU) will collapse in a year’s time and called on MPs to support the Presidency’s budget.

“The budget is a bold and visional plan that addresses the Presidency’s immediate needs as an effective centre for coordinating state affairs. I urge all members of Parliament to support this budget and collaborate in maintaining oversight on the expenditure of public funds,” Ntuli said.

However, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party chief whip John Hlophe highlighted that there were many programmes and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) under the Presidency.

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Hlophe questioned why there was no parliamentary committee overseeing the Presidency, labeling this as a “serious lacuna”.

This may lead to the president acting unilaterally with these SOEs, while bypassing parliamentary oversight, he said.

“With the dissolution of the Department of Public Enterprises, state-owned companies will now fall under the Presidency, which means they will no longer be accountable to Parliament.

“The president only answers to Parliament during quarterly answer and question sessions, which are often marred by bias and lack of transparency,” the MK party chief whip said on Tuesday.

Watch the budget vote below:

The former judge pointed out that the State Capture Commission’s report had recommended a dedicated committee to hold the Presidency accountable.

“The question is: can we trust President Ramaphosa to manage these companies without parliamentary oversight? Accountability is very important Mr President.

“The president is not required to account to Parliament in the same way that ministers do account. He also cannot be summoned by the portfolio committee is the same way as ministers can.”

Parliament ‘in the dark’ about budget

Hlophe also questioned how Parliament can approve a budget without any specific allocations.

“Mr President is very difficult for us as an opposition to effectively say we go along with the budget [but] no figures have been given at all as to how the budget has been comprised.

“I’m standing here being called upon to come and endorse a budget in the dark. It’s very difficult to engage constructively and meaningfully [when] we have not had sight of the budget.

“You also didn’t take into confidence as to how much has been budgeted in your office,” he told Ramaphosa.

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Although Hlophe noted the budget constraints across governmental departments, he said the MK party believed that funds should not be concentrated in the Presidency.

In addition, the MK party chief whip called on Ramaphosa to scale down on perks for members of the executive so more funds can be redirected to other departments

“We need to save money. It may sound ridiculous, but the bottom line is that there’s so much money that we will be able to save, for example instead of flying business class, you can fly economy and embark on austerity measures.”