A healthy dose of reality is what the DA’s deputy minister of finance Ashor Sarupen received after joining the National Treasury over four months ago.
“In opposition, you think that there’s a magic lever you pull to get things done... you don’t appreciate the complexities of government... I have been given a splash of cold water on the face,” Sarupen told Business Day in the aftermath of the budget.
This came after the first medium-term budget policy statement of the new administration last week, which included input from the 36-year-old, who is also the deputy chair of the DA’s federal council.
The DA entered the national government for the first time after the political earthquake that was the result of the May 29 election, in which the ANC lost 17 percentage points in support and its outright majority in parliament.
“I would have tried to cut all at once (if the DA had won outright), but I have learnt that it’s an evolution, rather than a revolution. If you do that upfront, you suck demand out of the economy and damage growth,” he said.
It has been an education for Sarupen, who said the classic liberal “slash and burn” approach he always thought was feasible was not practical.
“I reached a point where ideology meets a healthy dose of reality.”
Sarupen is the first opposition politician to enter the Treasury since 1996 — and he has been handed significant responsibilities by finance minister Enoch Godongwana, who meets with him and his fellow deputy, the ANC’s David Masondo, for breakfast once a week. Godongwana, Sarupen said, accepts that no single party won the election and accepts feedback and suggestions from his new opposition deputy and at times, takes it on board.
It is early days, but the trio is working well so far, he said.
“We steer clear of making it about politics and focus on things that need to get done. The National Treasury’s credibility is so important ... there is a higher sense of responsibility,” he said. “We put national interests above party interests, we have no choice but to find each other.”
I reached a point where ideology meets a healthy dose of reality
— Deputy finance minister Ashor Sarupen
He has high praise for Treasury officials, saying they are “very professional and hard-working”, barely even take a lunch break and can be seen “ferreting away” at the desks all through the day and even late at night.
Sarupen’s diary has also been “relentless”, and he has had to learn to “be more guarded” with his opinions, since it can have an effect on markets and the currency.
The young DA politician’s outlook has shifted since joining the government of national unity (GNU).
“If we accept that SA will not again be governed by one party, I will have to fundamentally change my outlook... The reality is that we don’t know what the future holds but the centre has to hold. None of these folks are my enemies,” he said of his new government colleagues.
The UDM’s Bantu Holomisa, who was appointed deputy defence minister, is adamant that the “GNU is here to stay and it will succeed”, provided the Treasury ensures that its minimum programme to be released in January is sufficiently funded.
Both Sarupen and Holomisa have been drawn in and heavily included in the running of the departments by the respective ministers in charge, a positive sign for the GNU, given that even some ANC deputy ministers had in the past been ignored by ministers and left to languish.
Holomisa’s return to government has been an easy transition, but the actual task at hand is a “helluva job”, he said. He described it as “relentless”.
He has been assigned to ensure that the defence force is brought in line with the 2015 defence review and to address some of the weaknesses identified in the auditor-general’s report on the department’s finances.
But he works closely with minister Angie Motshekga, who stepped out of an education portfolio for the first time since 1997 and into the complex defence portfolio.
“To me, I am back home, I am like a fish in water ... there is nothing to learn,” he said.
Holomisa welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s approach of adjusting the way cabinet committees and clusters worked to ensure deputy ministers are included. This ensures that even though he is a deputy minister, his input made its way into cabinet decisions.
He has directed his deputy in the party, Nqabayomzi Kwankwa, to lead its parliamentary caucus to hold Ramaphosa’s administration, including him in the defence portfolio, to account.
Holomisa is stoic about the GNU’s prospects, but said it was crucial that the 10 parties which form part of it together begin educating the public about what it is and what it aims to do over the next five years. This will go a long way to counter the negativity spread by those who are on the outside the governing arrangement.
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