DA withdraws from National Dialogue, will vote against budgets of ‘corruption accused’ ANC ministers

The DA is not leaving the Government of National Unity (GNU), but it will not participate in the looming National Dialogue, following the axing of its Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Andrew Whitfield.

“Frankly, the President cannot even dialogue meaningfully with his own coalition partners, so there is little point in pretending there is any substance to an ANC-run National Dialogue,” DA leader John Steenhuisen said at a press conference in Cape Town on Saturday, 28 June.  

“Effective immediately, the DA will therefore have no further part in this process.

“We will also actively mobilise against it to stop this obscene waste of R740-million – starting with a call on civil society to join us in demanding that the National Dialogue not proceed until President [Cyril] Ramaphosa fires ANC corruption accused and other delinquents from the executive,” Steenhuisen continued. 

Earlier this month, Ramaphosa announced the appointment of 31 prominent South Africans to lead the National Dialogue expected to take place on 15 August this year.

The initiative – meant to tackle a wide range of South Africa’s pressing issues including unemployment, poor governance and gender-based violence – was met with immediate opposition owing largely to its R740-million price tag.

Read more: National Dialogue — Promising concept or an illusion of progress for SA?

Steenhuisen announced the decision of the DA’s Federal Executive (FedEx) after Ramaphosa removed Whitfield from his position on Wednesday, 25 June, providing no reason for his dismissal. Whitfield’s removal, it later emerged, was apparently due to an “unauthorised” trip he took to the US for the DA in February this year.

On Thursday, Steenhuisen gave the president an “ultimatum” to clean house of the ANC ministers and deputy ministers implicated in corruption within 48 hours or face “grave consequences”.

He accused Ramaphosa of a “flagrant double standard” and had specifically called on him to remove Human Settlements Minister Thembi Simelane, Higher Education Minister Nobuhle Nkabane and Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation David Mahlobo from his Executive. 

The political developments surrounding South Africa’s fragile coalition government, caused Ramaphosa to cancel his trip to Seville, Spain, on 30 June, to attend a conference on financing for development. He instead delegated International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola to attend. 

Read more: ‘Clear violation of the rules’ — Ramaphosa breaks silence on Whitfield debacle

“President Ramaphosa has delegated Minister Lamola as the Head of Delegation for the Summit following recent political developments that require close monitoring and management in the country,” his office said in a statement on Saturday.

 According to a Sunday Times report earlier on Saturday, the DA was said to be considering leaving the GNU. 

In response to questions from reporters on why the party has decided to remain in the coalition government, Steenhuisen said the DA did not believe that it was “in the interest of South Africa for the current GNU to collapse”.

He said that if the GNU were to break, it would cause “significant economic damage” to the country. Steenhuisen said the country “benefits” from having the DA in the GNU.  

“A more impactful way would not have been to leave the Government of National Unity, because that would’ve opened South Africa up to the coalition of chaos and destruction, and would have led very clearly to more disastrous consequences for South Africa,” he said. 

Steenhuisen threw the ball back into Ramaphosa’s court, saying it was up to the ANC whether they wanted to kick the DA out of the national coalition. 

“The ball is in the President’s court and the ANC’s court – if they want to take a strong stance against us and want to stop us [from] standing against corruption, well, they must fire us from the Government of National Unity,” he said.  

DA to vote against budget votes

In addition to mobilising against the National Dialogue, Steenhuisen said the DA would also be voting against the individual budget votes for Simelane and Nkabane’s departments. “

A second, critically important step that the DA is taking, is to vote against upcoming departmental budget votes for the departments headed by Simelane, Nkabane, and other corruption accused ANC ministers.

“We will keep voting against those departmental votes until those ministers are removed.

“In this way, the DA will strike the appropriate balance by allowing the broader GNU budget process to proceed to ensure the stability of the country, while forcing the ANC to act against specific ministers.

"If the ANC wants our support for those departmental budgets, they must replace the incumbent ministers with alternatives that meet the very standard the President has set for himself through Whitfield’s axing,” said Steenhuisen.

He said that the ministers in those portfolios would need to source other ways of getting their budgets passed in Parliament. 

“We won’t be voting against the globular budget and, I think, that is a result of the fact that we want to ensure that delivery proceeds for the people of South Africa. But those individual budget votes where ministers are severely compromised and sitting at the top of those departments, will obviously have to find other ways to get those budgets passed,” he said. 

Read more: Inside the political turmoil: What Whitfield’s dismissal reveals about ANC dynamics

Steenhuisen added that the party’s Federal Executive had also considered tabling a motion of no confidence in Ramaphosa. However, he said the DA understood the concerns of many South Africans if Ramaphosa were removed as President.

“While the FedEx decided not to table a Motion of No Confidence at this stage, it is clear that the DA is in the process of losing confidence in his ability to act as a leader not of the ANC, but of the GNU of which we are the second-largest component,” said Steenhuisen. 

“If the ANC fails to course-correct, the FedEx will seriously consider exercising our constitutional prerogative by tabling a motion of no confidence.” He mentioned, on several occasions, that the GNU Statement of Intent had been undermined by Ramaphosa and the ANC. 

“I think the intent of the Statement of Intent is correct, but it would be great if that was being honored. It is being repeatedly violated. It says a lot about where we’re at that a year later, we still have a conflict resolution mechanism; that the Clearing House in the GNU has no terms of reference,” he said. 

Read more: Internal party pressure can break the Government of National Unity — Roelf Meyer

Steenhuisen said that Ramaphosa had not afforded him the opportunity to inform Whitfield himself about what was expected to happen before he received a letter from Ramaphosa alerting him of his removal.

“That is not respectful and that is not right,” he said, suggesting that certain clauses relating to consultation and consensus in the Statement of Intent were violated. “The Statement of Intent needs to be respected in both letter and spirit,” he said. 

A replacement for Whitfield 

Steenhuisen did not provide any names for Whitfield’s replacement, saying that the decision was with the party’s FedEx. “We will be submitting a replacement name, and that will obviously be a matter for our Federal Executive to take through the process.

It is a DA position, and once again, the fact that we got six ministers and six deputy ministers, is also another example of how we put South Africa first. We, proportionately, are entitled to a lot more than that, and yet it is another matter we had to swallow at that particular time to make sure we got a GNU that worked,” he said. DM