THE 2007 BUDGET VOTES
Introduction
On 19 June the National Assembly (NA) sat to vote on the 2007 budgets (see here for a definition of what the budget votes are and how they work).
There are currently 16 parties in the NA and by analysing how they each voted – whether they supported the ANC government or opposed it – one can get a very good idea of where they stand in contrast to the ANC’s policy and practice.
Briefly, the ANC government presents 34 budget votes to the National Assembly (these broadly reflect the national departments but include one or two public entities as well) which the NA then votes on. Altogether there are 400 members in the NA and each budget needs a majority to be passed. As the ANC has 293 members, that isn’t a problem but by looking at how all the other parties vote, one can tell a lot about their political orientation.
There are three different ways a party can oppose a budget. First, it can simply oppose it (called dissenting). Second, it can oppose it and make a declaration (a two minute speech). If it does this the party usually uses the declaration to qualify its decision. Third it can call for a division. This is the most vociferous form of opposition – every member’s individual vote is recorded.
There are two ways to support a budget. First, a party can simply support it and, second, it can support it with a declaration. Again, if it makes a declaration it usually uses it to qualify its support.
Finally, a party or an individual member can abstain from voting (and his or her vote will be recorded as such).
The nature of the opposition in parliament
The 16 parties - and the number of members in each party in the NA - is as follows:
1. African National Congress (ANC) (293 members)
2. Democratic Alliance (DA) (47)
3. Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) (23)
4. United Democratic Party (UDM) (6)
5. Independent Democrats (ID) (5)
6. African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) (4)
7. Freedom Front Plus (FF+) (4)
8. National Democratic Convention (NADECO) (4)
9. United Christian Democratic Party (UCDP) (3)
10. Pan African Congress of Azania (PAC) (3)
11. Minority Front (MF) (2)
12. United Independent Front (UIF) (2)
13. Azanian People’s Organisation (AZAPO) (1)
14. United Party of South Africa (UPSA) (1)
15. Federation of Democrats (FD) (1)
16. Progressive Independent Movement (PIM) (1)
It becomes almost immediately obvious that the vast majority of parties are very, very small – in fact, 11 out of the 16 parties have four members or less, only three more than twenty.
One would think that this would lead to a wide range of opinions and a diversity of policy positions both with regard to the ANC and to each other but the truth, unfortunately, is that while the National Assembly is home to a large number of political parties, the majority of them have little to offer in terms of a separate identity or vision from that of the ruling party.
The key things one should look for, when assessing how a party has voted, is its position with regard to the most contentious departments. For example: crime is currently a massive problem in South Africa and the ANC government has been widely condemned for its failure to properly address the situation. Now, how did the respective parties vote with regard to the Safety and Security budget vote. Did they approve of government’s strategy and how public money is being spent in this regard, or did they oppose it because they felt more should be done?
The Democratic Alliance
As with last, and indeed every year, the Democratic Alliance was the party with the most complex, comprehensive and thought out voting strategy which can be summarised as follows:
2007
• The DA supported 15 out of the 34 budget votes (in 2006 it supported 17 budgets).
• It opposed a
| Posted on 2/7/2007
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