Business Leadership SA (BLSA) CEO Busi Mavuso said rising tensions in the Government of National Unity (GNU), including threats by political parties to walk out, are fuelling uncertainty that risks undermining investor confidence.
“The recent tensions have been particularly concerning, with threats of walkouts and the decision to boycott the National Dialogue creating exactly the kind of instability that makes investors nervous,” Mavuso said, adding the tensions could stall economic reform.
“This fragility is having real consequences. Business confidence, which had been steadily improving, is now tempered by questions about policy continuity and reform momentum. When political survival takes precedence over governance, everyone loses.”
Mavuso’s comments, published in the BLSA weekly newsletter, come after the DA withdrew its support and participation from the National Dialogue.
The DA will also not support the budget votes tabled by “corruption accused” ANC ministers, including higher education minister Nobuhle Nkabane and human settlements minister Thembi Simelane.
The DA’s move is in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s firing of DA Eastern Cape leader Andrew Whitfield as deputy minister of trade, industry & competition.
Whitfield was fired after undertaking an unauthorised working visit to the US in February, as part of a DA delegation, during which he engaged with senior US officials regarding SA and US relations.
The DA has also threatened to table a motion of no confidence against Ramaphosa. If it passes, it could collapse the GNU, requiring a new election of the president by MPs.
Mavuso said the lack of clearly defined mechanisms to resolve disputes among partners was undermining the coalition’s ability to govern effectively.
“The coalition partners haven’t established robust protocols for managing their inevitable disagreements without threatening the entire arrangement,” Mavuso said.
“It is undermining the capacity to formulate and implement the urgently required policies that address our many challenges, and will undoubtedly continue to delay our ambitions for a capable state.”
Business Day previously reported that Ramaphosa may consider sanctioning DA leader John Steenhuisen should he not participate in the interministerial committee of the National Dialogue.
ActionSA’s Athol Trollip said on Monday the party would only consider supporting a move by the DA to remove Ramaphosa through a motion of no confidence based on the party’s own assessments and not through DA lobbying.
“Ultimatums do not run government; if you respect each other, they must learn to speak properly through us and not through ultimatums; you can’t give an ultimatum to a person in whose executive you serve,” ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula told reporters on the sidelines of the ANC OR Tambo regional conference.
“They [DA] have a choice. They can leave or stay if they think this GNU doesn’t serve them well. We also have an option to work with everyone for the interest of the people of SA.”
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