By 
The postponement of the budget speech to be tabled by the Minister of Finance Mr Enoch Godongwana on Wednesday, 19 February 2025, afternoon has sent markets into a frenzy leading to a weakened Rand, dropping from R18, 33 earlier in the day to R18, 58 to the US Dollar.
The budget speech is market sensitive as investors await with eager to hear which direction their investment will take and the impact thereof. An unstable government will send investors packing and head for a more stable economy.
For the past two weeks leading up to the budget speech, the parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) could not find common ground; it is alleged that the bone of contention is the 2 percent increase in VAT, and tax increase, the members were at variance and could not reach an agreement until the last minute; forcing a postponement.
The postponement signals that the cracks in the GNU are widening and this could spell disaster for the country’s economy and its people. Naysayers have given the GNU a maximum of two years and then implode.
Parliament was divided on the matter, while opposition parties called for a continuation of the budget speech, parties in the GNU supported the postponement but demanded a definite date on which to table the budget speech.
If the ideological issues at play here are not resolved in the GNU, the country will be faced with another postponement. For the first time in the history of democracy has a budget speech been postponed; which poses a question on the efficiency of the GNU.
The DA during the postponement debate in parliament attempted to assure the markets that all is well in the GNU and that there should not be any panic, it seems the markets were deaf to the appeal and reacted to what is happening in Parliament.
The Speaker of Parliament Ms Thoko Didiza, announced the postponement and after listening to the members of parliament, she announced 12 March 2025, as the new date for the budget speech as recommended by the Executive.
