South Africa's two biggest political parties, the African National Congress and the pro-business Democratic Alliance were yet to reach agreement to pass the budget on Tuesday, hours before a key parliamentary committee was set to debate it.

South Africa’s fragile unity government has been shaken again. The country’s second-largest political party broke with partners Wednesday and voted against a national budget.

The second largest party in South Africa’s coalition, the business-friendly Democratic Alliance, launched a legal challenge on Thursday to block a 0.5% VAT increase in the country’s new budget, raising concerns that the fragile government could collapse.