Helen Zille. (Luba Lesolle/Gallo Images)
Democratic Alliance (DA) federal chairperson Helen Zille has accused President Cyril Ramaphosa of using smaller parties in the government of national unity (GNU) as proxies to advance the ANC agenda.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, Zille said every party in the coalition government, apart from the ANC and the DA, owed its position to Ramaphosa’s goodwill.
“If you are a minister, deputy minister, or chair of a committee, you have to please President Ramaphosa because he holds your fate in his hands,” she said.
Zille claimed the ANC’s strategy of co-opting smaller parties created a “hallelujah chorus” that backed the ruling party on every decision, conveniently shielding it from political battles with the DA.
She said the DA’s role in the GNU was secured not by Ramaphosa’s favour, but by the 3.5 million South Africans who voted for the party in last May’s general elections, giving it the balance of power.
The ANC and DA have clashed over several issues since the formation of the unity government, including the contentious Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act, which Ramaphosa signed into law last year. The ANC’s alliance partners urged Ramaphosa to fire Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube of the DA for failing to attend the original signing of the Bill in September.
The latest stand-off between the two parties is over the Expropriation Act signed by the president on Thursday. Public Works Minister Dean MacPherson, also from the DA, is responsible for implementing the new law, but has questioned its constitutionality, saying the policy of expropriation without compensation would not be implemented “under my watch”.
But MacPherson’s deputy, Sihle Zikalala of the ANC, has said the department will see to it that the Act is implemented.
Some in the DA believe Ramaphosa intentionally gave the party cabinet portfolios that would force the relevant ministers, such as Gwarube and Macpherson, to implement laws at odds with the party’s policies, alienating its voters.
At the sidelines of an ANC lekgotla over the weekend, secretary general Fikile Mbalula said the DA knew the path it would be embarking on when it joined the GNU.
“Dean is just being out of character, he must talk to his deputy, he can not cast aside his deputy … The way he speaks to Sihle is like he is a ball boy who must carry his briefcase wherever he goes,” he said of the relationship between Macpherson and Zikalala.
“It is very difficult in the GNU, you account to the party and you come with the mandate of the party. They outmanoeuvred themselves. The president signed NHI [National Health Insurance] before GNU, he signed the Bela Act after it had gone through all the process, now the Expropriation [Act].
“The DA should have known and they did not say to us in the statement of intent [for the coalition government] that all the Bills that we disagree with, we must start them afresh. We would have told them right from the onset that we disagree.”
Mbalula denied that Ramaphosa had intentionally given the DA problematic ministries, saying the party had chosen them itself during negotiations.
At Tuesday’s DA briefing, Zille said the party understood that it could not get everything it wanted, conceding: “We have to compromise because we did not win enough votes.”
DA leader John Steenhuisen said given how contentious the Expropriation Act was and having received a two-page submission from MacPherson on a legal opinion outlining its unconstitutionality, Ramaphosa was not being a good steward of the unity government by signing it.
“He could have given us reasons why he has come to this decision but it was still brushed aside and I found out on social media on my way back from Davos that this Bill has been signed,” Steenhuisen said.
He said the DA had not reached the point of wanting to leave the GNU, but warned that there would be no point in staying if the ANC continued undermining his party.
“I really hope this situation is the course for a reset in relations in the GNU. We don’t feel trapped in the coalition, we came with our eyes wide open and we knew exactly what the risks were,” he said.
“We are in a coalition; no party can get what they want, and the DA understands that. We are prepared to compromise but we will not compromise on matters that trash the Constitution.”
Steenhuisen was expected to meet Ramaphosa on Tuesday night to discuss the expropriation law.
