Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana delivering the Medium-term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Parliament, Cape Town. [Photos: GCIS]
Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana delivering the Medium-term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) in Parliament, Cape Town. [Photos: GCIS]
The DA’s Shadow Deputy Minister for Finance has gone into full ‘talk with the manager’ mode on Tuesday. Enoch Godongwana was accused of giving vague and short answers during a meeting in Parliament – and the opposition now wants President Ramaphosa to hold the Finance Minister to account.
What has Enoch Godongwana been accused of?
Godongwana, who is set to present his first budget to Parly later this month, was quizzed about the R11 billion loan given to South Africa by the World Bank. The terms and conditions of borrowing such a hefty sum require the utmost transparency – but nobody during the virtual address could get a straight answer out of him.
He ducked and dived his way around some difficult questions, prompting a furious response from the DA. Dion George has since read the riot act to the ANC representative, in a statement issued earlier this afternoon.
Did Godongwana disrespect Parliament?
Shadow Minister George accused Godongwana of blatantly ‘disrespect the house’, complaining that questions put to him were not ‘adequately answered’. The DA MP also took offence with the Cabinet member’s punctuality, after he logged on THIRTY MINUTES later than everyone else on the call.
- Unable to hide his frustration, George confirmed he’s also requested an ‘urgent reprimand’ from Cyril’s office:
“The DA will write to President Cyril Ramaphosa requesting that he urgently reprimands Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana for not adequately answering questions in Parliament on the R11 billion World Bank loan. In a Finance Committee meeting today, the Minister displayed exactly how little he cares about the finances of South Africa.”
“He failed to join the meeting on time and connected 30 minutes late without an acceptable excuse. He then insulted Parliament further, by speaking for less than a minute and then said he will field questions. The Minister clearly failed to afford Parliament the respect it deserves in its role of holding the Executive to account.”
Dion George
