Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament David Maynier says Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is in hot water and is nothing more than a sophisticated version of Donald Trump – after Mboweni’s Twitter comments recently. Maynier was speaking during a debate on the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill in the National Assembly.
Mboweni was not in the House.His Deputy Mondli Gungubele was the one responding to the debate.
The bill makes provision for among other things, the adjustment of budget allocations to provinces, local government and municipalities from the national budget.
Maynier told the House that he is not surprised by Mboweni’s absence. “Chairperson the new Finance Minister Tito Mboweni is in hot political water. Not only for his erratic views on the South African Airways, but also for a bizzare meltdown on twitter, which has probably explained his prolonged absence from this parliament. The minister comes across as a sophisticated version of Donald Trump, sitting back, consuming good food, good wine and good cigars ready to post the first thing no matter how bizzare that comes to mind on Twitter. Last week the minister posted a series of bizzare late night tweets calling for war on editors and complaining about being stabbed in the back.”
Opening the debate on the bill the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, Yvonne Phosa said the predictions that the technical recession will be over in the third quarter, is a sign that the South African economy is growing again.
Phosa told the National Assembly that a positive recovery of the economy is expected. “As I close there is enthusiasm and optimism for economic reforms introduced by the ANC-led government under the leadership of his Excellency the President. An economist in the Business Day of the 9th of November says South Africa’s technical recession is likely to be over in the third quarter due to the 1.7% growth in the manufacturing sector in the third quarter, a sign that the economy is growing again.”
The National Assembly passed the Division of Revenue Amendment Bill with more than 200 MPs voting in favour of it. It will now be sent to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence. The Division of Revenue Amendment Bill was tabled after the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement delivered by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni.
“The outcome of the division is as follows, – those is favour 208, those against 12. There are no abstentions and the question is accordingly agreed to. The bill will be sent to the National Council of Provinces for concurrence,” said House Chairperson Cedrick Frolick announcing results after the DA called for a division for voting to take place from the allocated seats of MPs.
