Newly appointed correctional services minister Pieter Groenewald and his wife Hedwig were driving from the airport to their home in Stilfontein, near Potchefstroom, when his phone rang at 7.10pm on Sunday.
“We were entering Potchefstroom. It was on speakerphone, but when I heard it was someone from the president’s office saying the president wanted to speak to me I pulled over next to the road,” Groenewald, leader of the FF+, told the Sunday Times this week.
“The president offered me the position but I told him that I needed to consult with my structures before I could accept.
“After the call ended, there was this lovely, natural little moment of silence. Because it was on speaker, my wife Hedwig heard the offer. After the little silence, she said, ‘Now this is something we must handle.’ It was a massive surprise,” Groenewald said.
He called an emergency Zoom meeting of the FF+ federal management group, which began after he arrived home at 7.45pm. “At 8.55pm I called the president’s office back and accepted the post.”
He is still surprised.
“We heard at 5pm the cabinet would be announced, but because we had not been called, there was no expectation. That made the surprise and elation so much more. It was a matter of something very important landing on your table and now you have to make a decision.”
When he cofounded his party in 1994 with a mission statement to fight for the right of Afrikaners and other groups to self-determination, Groenewald never dreamed that 30 years later he would be appointed to the cabinet.
“If someone had told me that, I would have said they don’t know what they are talking about and I probably would have said they lack political knowledge.”
He said the ANC initially approached the FF+ to discuss working together in the Northern Cape. “The result there had been a draw, with 15 ANC members and 15 members of the opposition winning seats. We had one extra member who could be a tiebreaker and they needed us,” Groenewald said.
I had an official vehicle but the first time the driver tried holding open the back door for me I refused to sit in the back like a lord and took my seat next to the driver
— Pieter Groenewald
“The ANC said we could get the position of MEC for transport, local government or arts & culture. We said we are not interested in executive posts, we want the chair in the legislature for local government. That was the agreement we made.”
Later, the FF+ joined the discussions about a GNU.
“We signed the memorandum of intent but we didn’t discuss a cabinet post at any of the meetings,” Groenewald said. “Our national target was the portfolio committee chair of public accounts and of police. The plan was that I would chair the police committee, because I have been a member of the committee for my entire parliamentary career.”
The newly minted minister chuckles. “I complicated matters for the security team because I immediately told them I don’t need blue light convoys and such things. It throws their rhythm out a little. This is not the first time in my career I am being, shall we say, driven around. Even as Stilfontein mayor it happened,” he said, referring to his 1988/1989 stint as mayor of his hometown.
“I had an official vehicle but the first time the driver tried holding open the back door for me I refused to sit in the back like a lord and took my seat next to the driver.”
Away from work Groenewald enjoys “almost meditative” pastimes.
“I love gardening, maybe because I grew up on a farm. On most Saturdays you will find me busy in my garden. It is not strange to see me mowing my lawn myself. It is almost meditative. You relax and your thoughts are centred on something almost trivial.”
But he also has some “real hobbies”, including photography — “especially natural scenery and sunsets with silhouettes”.
“I also do karate. The style I practise is Goju Ryu. Karate helps me relax. It is also a great release for frustration and stress.”
But his hobbies will take a back seat for now. “The president’s call changed all that. When South Africa calls, you answer.”
Groenewald, who has been married to Hedwig for 20 years, was born on a farm near Potchefstroom. He turns 69 next month.
“I attended a little farm school at primary level,” he said. He studied at North-West University — then still known as Potchefstroom University — obtaining a B.Juris, a postgraduate diploma in communications, a master’s in management and development, and a PhD in political science.
The first time he ran for the mayor’s office in Stilfontein, in 1987, he lost. “I learnt an important lesson with that Stilfontein loss which I hope can be of value to my ANC colleagues in government. You must first lose in order to really win. A winner who does not know the taste of losing will become too complacent,” Groenewald said.
He has been an MP since the first democratic elections in 1994, with a two-year break from 1999 when he served as a member of the North West provincial legislature.
How will his party and its cause benefit from his inclusion in the cabinet?
“Our view is that we need to build a better South Africa and that the cabinet offers us the biggest platform possible to communicate our views. One of the most important of those is that we need economic growth so we can create more job opportunities. Unemployment is one of the biggest problems we face as a nation,” Groenewald said.
Will the FF+ be able to work with the ANC?
“This is how we solve differences and problems. When we have differences of opinion in the cabinet, my approach would be to focus on solving the problems, rather than [focusing on] the differences between us. This is not about what is the best for a political party, but what is the best for us as a nation.”
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