The DA’s decision to withdraw from the national dialogue has placed party leader John Steenhuisen in the crosshairs of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who may consider sanctioning the agriculture minister should he refuse to participate in the dialogue’s interministerial committee (IMC).
Steenhuisen is the DA’s sole representative on the 12-member committee that is driving the dialogue, which is chaired by deputy president Paul Mashatile.
Nonparticipation in the IMC will be viewed as insubordination by the president, according to his spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya.
“Indeed, there will be sanction. I can’t say what form of sanction. It remains the president’s expectation that minister Steenhuisen will fulfil all his delegated ministerial duties,” Magwenya said.
“Ministers who have been appointed to the national dialogue IMC are expected to participate in full in the IMC. Anything to the contrary will have to be explained to the president and nonparticipation in the IMC as the president has directed will certainly constitute insubordination.”
The dialogue, expected to begin in August, is intended to address deepening political fragmentation. Though the proposed R700m budget has raised concern, the cabinet last week said the proposal had not been taken through the “established government budgeting processes or considered by the IMC”.
At the heart of the falling out is Ramaphosa’s decision to dismiss Andrew Whitfield, the DA’s Eastern Cape leader who was serving as deputy minister of trade, industry & competition. He was fired for breaking the cabinet’s international travel protocol when he embarked on a working visit to the US in February as part of a DA delegation.
Last week, after Whitfield’s firing, the DA gave Ramaphosa a 48-hour ultimatum to also fire corruption-accused ministers, including human settlements minister Thembi Simelane, higher education minister Nobuhle Nkabane and water & sanitation deputy minister David Mahlobo.
Ramaphosa responded by saying he would not be swayed by threats or ultimatums by the DA.
In addition to walking away from the national dialogue, the DA said at the weekend — after a two-hour meeting of its federal executive — that it would not vote in favour of budgets of departments headed by “corruption-accused” ANC ministers. The DA added that a motion of no confidence in Ramaphosa was still on the table.
“We know what the consequences will be. So does the president. It is the president’s choice to respect the statement of intent his secretary-general signed on behalf of his party. Or he can continue to act as if he governs with a clear majority. We will then show him that he does not,” DA federal council chair Helen Zille told Business Day.
The ANC’s chief whip in parliament, Mdumiseni Ntuli, said the ANC would not retaliate by not voting in favour of budgets tabled by ministries headed by members of the DA. “I don’t believe that [the ANC] with its level of maturity can consider such a reckless retaliatory strategy because the main casualty will be the people of SA,” Ntuli said.
While the DA hasn’t walked away from the government of national unity, the rupture has exposed deep mistrust and raised questions about the longevity of the multiparty arrangement.
Business Day understands that the matter will be discussed by the ANC’s national working committee on Monday and the decision taken there will be referred to the party’s national executive committee when it meets in July.
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