Every year we wait in anticipation for the minister of finance to announce the annual Budget. This “announcement” is often discussed as if it were final. This is, however, a misrepresentation of the constitutional framework within which the government spending is determined. The proposed Budget has to be presented to Parliament, which is the ultimate body to determine the quantum and allocation of national government spending.
The Budget is, in fact, just a special kind of act of Parliament called an “appropriation”. An appropriation, like any statute, has to be passed by Parliament before it acquires the force of law. Once the minister introduces the bill, members of Parliament discuss its contents, invite comment from the rest of society and amend the proposed law at their discretion. A critical component of our constitutional dispensation and a core tenet of the rule of law is that changes to the law should be debated in public and benefit from a process of broad public participation.