The government of national unity (GNU) has been shaken by President Cyril Ramaphosa’s dismissal of the DA’s deputy minister of trade, industry & competition, Andrew Whitfield, for what DA leader and agriculture minister John Steenhuisen believes has no legitimate foundation.
He said in the National Assembly on Thursday that the “sudden and ill-considered decision” to dismiss Whitfield had put SA’s future at stake. It was a “calculated assault” on the DA, he added.
The rattling of the GNU did not, however, have much effect on investor sentiment, which has been solidly in support of the GNU.
So angered is Steenhuisen by Whitfield’s “summary dismissal” that he was tempted for the DA not to vote for the Division of Revenue Bill, which allocates the budget to the three spheres of government. But he said the party would vote for it in the interest of SA.
Concluding the second reading debate on the bill, finance minister Enoch Godongwana said he had feared that once again his budget was in trouble. “I am happy about placing SA above everything else,” he said.
Steenhuisen warned that “if this situation is not corrected it will go down as the greatest political mistake in modern SA history”.
Steenhuisen called on Ramaphosa to fire human settlements minister Thembi Simelane, higher education & training minister Nobuhle Nkabane, water & sanitation deputy minister David Mahlobo and other ANC ministers and deputy ministers implicated in corruption within the next 48 hours.
“If they fail to do so, the ANC will inflict grave consequences on SA,” he warned. “Make no mistake about it: what happens next is entirely on the ANC and president Ramaphosa. Should the ANC fail to meet our ultimatum, all bets are off and the consequences will be theirs to bear.”
DA federal council chair Helen Zille convened an urgent meeting of the DA’s federal executive on Thursday after the dismissal.
In his unscheduled speech during the debate, Steenhuisen said Whitfield, a hard-working deputy minister, was fired for ostensibly failing to get permission from Ramaphosa to travel abroad earlier this year.
But Steenhuisen said Whitfield had written to Ramaphosa to ask for this permission without receiving a reply, contradicting the president’s “flimsy reasoning” that the dismissal was due to his travelling abroad without permission.
Whitfield went on an unauthorised trips to the US, alongside DA MP Emma Powell, where the pair met senior US government officials to discuss US and SA relations. At the time, the DA said Whitfield, who is also the DA leader in the Eastern Cape, undertook the weeklong visit in his capacity as a party leader and not on behalf of the SA government.
Steenhuisen said Whitfield later wrote to Ramaphosa apologising if he had caused offence but again received no response.
“Then yesterday, months after the incident and without a further word on it, the president unilaterally removed a DA deputy minister without even giving his largest coalition partner an opportunity to discuss it with the member or his party.”
Ramaphosa informed Steenhuisen about the dismissal before Wednesday’s cabinet meeting and Steenhuisen asked for 24 hours to discuss the matter with Whitfield and the DA. Three hours later, Whitfield received a letter informing him of his removal.
As Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, stated that the move was not part of a broader cabinet reshuffle, it could only be seen as a “calculated assault” on the DA, Steenhuisen said.
He accused Ramaphosa of double standards and hypocrisy as members of his cabinet were implicated in the VBS Mutual Bank scandal and looting (allegedly Simelane) and had mislead parliament about the appointment of members of the sector education & training (Seta) boards (Nkabane).
The cabinet, Steenhuisen said, included serial underperformers and those implicated in state capture (Mahlobo).
He noted that Ramaphosa gave ministers facing allegations the opportunity to submit a report. Ministers who were found by the public protector to have serious findings against them were merely admonished by the president or had their pay docked. Yet a DA deputy minister was dismissed.
“Are the people of SA expected to accept that fraudsters, corruption accused and Zondo accused are protected while deputy minister Whitfield is removed?” Steenhuisen said.
The DA leader said Whitfield was succeeding in his job — for example by opposing suspect appointments to the board of the Industrial Development Corporation and had raised questions about the proposed Transformation Fund and the award of the national lottery licence.
“Given this flagrant double standard one is left with no choice but to conclude that hard-working DA members of the executive are fired for fighting corruption not for committing corruption, for being good at their jobs rather than incompetent,” Steenhuisen said.
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