The government of national unity (GNU) is hanging by a thread. President Cyril Ramaphosa is evidently losing patience with his biggest GNU partner – the DA. The president’s annoyance was glaring in a statement issued by his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya on Tuesday.
Magwenya’s rebuke of DA MP Emma Powell came after the lawmaker released a statement lambasting Ramaphosa’s choice of US special envoy Mcebisi Jonas. Powell claimed to be breaking news that Jonas had been denied entry to the US, and that the country declined to accept his credentials. In response.
Magwenya said Jonas had not been required to travel to the US recently, and then schooled Powell about diplomacy, and that envoys – unlike ambassadors – are not required to submit credentials.
He then added: “The Presidency is therefore concerned about the Democratic Alliance’s persistent campaign against South Africa’s national interest and its posture of trying to embarrass and belittle our country, and in this specific circumstance, Mr Jonas.
This campaign has its origins in a Democratic Alliance visit to the United States earlier this year, to advance an ideological agenda rather than our national interest. The DA has positioned itself as a part of a right-wing nexus that seeks to use foreign state to effect changes to democratically developed policies in our own country.”
It has now become apparent that the frustration with the DA has now reached the Union Buildings.
Weeks leading to the president’s address, there were murmurings about a possible cabinet reshuffle that insiders claimed may include some DA ministers – a move that would have clearly hammered the last nail in the relationship between the ANC and the DA.
Calls for Ramaphosa to cut ties with John Steenhuisen’s party are getting louder within the ANC. Steenhuisen is under similar pressures within his own party. In fact, when Steenhuisen called a press conference recently to react to Andrew Whitfield’s firing – many expected him to announce that his party was walking out of the GNU.
The ANC national executive committee (NEC), which is the party’s highest decision-making body, was scheduled to meet last weekend but the meeting was shifted at the last hour by the party’s national working committee. Top of the agenda of that meeting was the state of the GNU.
Many within Ramaphosa’s NEC would be happy to see the back of Steenhuisen and his DA colleagues. Disagreements have ranged from the implementation of the National Health Insurance, the signing into law of the Basic Education Amendment Act, and the 2025 budget. The removal of Whitfield from the executive came when relations were already at low point. But the new fight over the government’s foreign policy could be the final bout.
It was bound to happen. The ideological gap between the two parties is too wide. Take for an example the divide over the government’s foreign policy. The ANC has formed strong bonds with countries such as China and Russia, while the DA would prefer dumping those allies and focus on strengthening our ties with the US.
However, Ramaphosa has even bigger problems. He recently ordered his police minister Senzo Mchunu to stay at home while he is being investigated for having links to criminal underground gangs.
Deputy police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya is also sitting at home for being linked to the same characters. Other senior police officers are also accused of one corruption act or the other.
His minister of higher education, Nobuhle Nkabane stands accused of having lied to parliament about a non-existent advisory panel that advised her to appoint her comrades to key positions in sector education and training authority boards.
As if that is not enough, minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni shocked the country recently when she revealed that our spies have picked up “potential risk” of a coup.
Although Ramaphosa and Steenhuisen face mounting pressure within their parties to split, they are also under immense pressure from big business and donors to stay put. If the DA decides to leave or gets booted out – it will go back to the opposition benches to resume its role as the official opposition – a role it played with distinction in the past.
But for Ramaphosa, the alternative is not appetising. His party may be forced to approach its former president, Jacob Zuma, to join the coalition. But a coalition with the MK Party would be so unstable, given the instability within the party.
The EFF is another option for the ANC. But given Julius Malema’s personality, he could want to be the one to publicly reprimand a wayward EFF minister instead of allowing Ramaphosa to exercise his prerogative.
While Ramaphosa dithers about which route to take, what is clear is that the ANC/ DA marriage is nearing its expiry date and it can’t be reversed.
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