SAfrica passes contentious budget without ANC securing top coalition partner’s support

South Africa’s parliament passed a key budget law on Wednesday after weeks of stalemate over the measure.

But despite the African National Congress managing to get the country’s fiscal framework for 2025 through in a tight 194-182 vote, the decision by its major coalition partner to vote against the spending plan has cast the future of the government into doubt.

Semafor previously reported that the unprecedented budget deadlock was largely due to the ANC’s center-right coalition partner the Democratic Alliance’s demands over the handling of port and rail infrastructure, and the scrapping of a VAT tax.

If the DA were to leave, it would reduce the governing coalition to exactly 200 votes in the country’s National Assembly, raising the likelihood that the ANC might have to look for new partners to remain in power.