Having declared just two weeks before that he was not keen to join the national cabinet, one of the first things new DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis did was have a “meet and greet” with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
That engagement illustrated perfectly, if unintentionally, the strategic ball-juggling act facing Hill-Lewis and his party — being part of the Ramaphosa-led government of national unity while simultaneously seeking to keep independent oversight of it.
Hill-Lewis’s office said the Cape Town mayor was looking forward to regular and productive engagements with the president.
He had earlier reiterated to the Sunday Times that he was not interested in serving in the national executive, saying it was “important that there’s a healthy distance between me and the cabinet”.
“I don’t want the president to have any sword above my neck. I want to be able to say what I want to say about what is happening in South Africa with freedom. I have the utmost respect for the office of the president, but from a political perspective I do not want to answer to the president on a daily basis. I want to be able to say what I want to say from a DA perspective, and I think that’s important for the DA and the country.”
While Hill-Lewis may not want to compromise his perceived independence by being a member of Ramaphosa’s cabinet, the decision to remain in the Cape Town Civic Centre as mayor may create a different headache for him and the DA.
Managing tensions that may arise due to him not being in the cabinet will be Hill-Lewis’s biggest test and an aspect he will need to closely manage
Questions are already being asked about the wisdom of not having the party leader in the cabinet, the country’s highest decision-making body. It means that one of the DA ministers may have to play that role and lead the DA cohort when important national issues are discussed.
In 2013,the DA’s then party leader Helen Zille and parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko butted heads when DA MPs voted in favour of the government’s affirmative action policies on the advice of Mazibuko, and in defiance of Zille, who at the time was in provincial government.
Managing tensions that may arise due to him not being in the cabinet will be Hill-Lewis’s biggest test and an aspect he will need to closely manage.
His decision to remain in Cape Town is not just about staying free of Ramaphosa’s apron strings, say party insiders, pointing to his key role as the face of the DA in its plans to retain control of the Mother City in the forthcoming local government elections.
Hill-Lewis has popularity and appeal across the city’s diverse communities. With the DA having no clear candidate to take over from him as the election looms, it makes sense for him to stay put in Cape Town. This is especially so in light of the Patriotic Alliance making headway among DA voters in the Western Cape.
In addition to concerns about protecting its traditional Cape support base, the DA has served notice of its intention to expand its voter appeal.
One of the key policy decisions adopted by the party at its federal congress — which it described as a significant “mindset shift” — is to improve its relationship with traditional leadership institutions, which have in the past been the mainstay of the ANC’s support base.
Conservatives in the DA may argue that the party is going back to alienating its traditional white support base, some of whom in 2019 voted for the FF Plus, leading to the party’s decline from 22.2% to 20.7% in the national ballot
The DA will seek to achieve this by establishing a special committee, located in the office of the chair of the DA federal council, aimed at improving relations with traditional leaders.
“Of the engagements we have conducted with traditional leaders, the sentiment was overwhelmingly positive. The DA is respected as an effective issue driver, and the DA’s track record in government stands out,” the party said in its resolution.
“Our stakeholders believe [that] if the DA can take up many of the issues and concerns that affect the traditional leadership sector, it will make a difference,” it said, adding that rural communities had “lost faith in the ruling party”.
The DA also plans to rebuild grassroots structures that collapsed during the exodus of black leaders from the party following Mmusi Maimane’s departure in 2019, and this may go some way in attracting black voters, boosting its share of electoral support.
Conservatives in the DA may argue, however, that the party is going back to alienating its traditional white support base, some of whom in 2019 voted for the FF Plus, leading to the party’s decline from 22.2% to 20.7% in the national ballot.
Appealing to black voters may be a necessary gamble, but Hill-Lewis and his leadership cohort will have to strike a balance between the competing constituencies.
Before stepping down, the DA’s former leader, John Steenhuisen, insisted that the party’s image has undergone a “brand shift” due to its role in the GNU.
“Being in the GNU has allowed a rebranding of the DA without doing something superficial like changing the logo. We’ve been able to shift voters’ minds about it and that is why we’re growing,” he said.
The DA now has to ponder how stridently it should criticise the ANC, its main partner in the GNU, against the co-operation imperative imposed by the GNU. Twelve of the party’s 87 National Assembly members, including Steenhuisen, are part of Ramaphosa’s national executive
The party is polling at around 28% nationally, according to a Social Research Foundation poll published last month, and Steenhuisen attributed this to its role in the GNU.
He said the party’s role in government has also convinced voters who have never voted for the DA before, mainly black, that it won’t bring back apartheid. “[People can see] they didn’t bring back apartheid; they didn’t cancel social grants. They didn’t govern only for the rich and for business.
“Voters now see us as a party that can govern at a national level, and that we’ve destroyed some of the weaponry that was used against us in every election by our opponents by disproving it by being in the GNU.”
But participation in the GNU comes with the challenge of managing two roles which do not sit together comfortably — that of being a governing party while holding to a long-standing opposition posture, a potentially double-edged sword that can consolidate or fragment its support base.
The DA now has to ponder how stridently it should criticise the ANC, its main partner in the GNU, against the co-operation imperative imposed by the GNU. Twelve of the party’s 87 National Assembly members, including Steenhuisen, are part of Ramaphosa’s national executive.
Not unpredictably, this has created a perception in sections of the electorate of assimilation rather than effective oversight. Critics say that with executive power and benefits, the leaders in the cabinet are compromised and no longer able to play an oversight role over national government.
The pushback from supporters of the GNU, such as Steenhuisen, is that in coalitions no party gets everything it wants. In any case, they say, GNU participation ensures that the DA’s voice, despite constituting only 22% of the coalition, is heard where it matters — citing the party’s fight against the VAT increase in 2025 and its ongoing opposition to BEE, among other things.
With Hill-Lewis choosing to remain outside the cabinet, observers will be watching with keen interest how the DA navigates the choppy waters of the GNU under his leadership — and how long he can withstand pressure from sections of his party to eventually join the national executive.
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