National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza in south afrika told lawmakers that such a postponement of the budget speech had never occurred in the past 30 years. The budget is now expected to be tabled on 12 March.

The ruling African National Congress (ANC), which lost its parliamentary majority in last year’s election, requires support from coalition partners to pass the budget. Its main ally, the Democratic Alliance (DA), opposed the ANC’s proposal to raise value-added tax (VAT) by two percentage points.

The delay rattled financial markets, with the South African rand falling as much as 1% against the US dollar.Local media reports suggest the proposed VAT hike was intended to address funding shortfalls in education and social programmes.EFF leader Julias Malema says this is the sign that there is no covernment