Podcaster Roman Cabanac says being hired as agriculture minister John Steenhuisen's chief of staff was a “dream come true”, but that the subsequent media storm over his appointment has made him “pretty much unemployable”.
For now, a defiant Cabanac continues to report for work at his Pretoria office every day, despite Steenhuisen asking him two weeks ago to resign.
“I have never refused to resign,” the 37-year-old told the Sunday Times this week.
“Until now, nobody from HR has been in contact with me. People must understand that this is not the kind of job where you leave your work laptop on your table and just walk out.
“I have top secret clearance, a diplomatic passport and I am in possession of classified material and cabinet reports. Do I just put those on my table and go?”
He said he had gone through six weeks of intensive vetting to get the job.
“They checked and tested everything from my matric, my personality and aptitude to my LLB degree. How can people now expect me to just walk out?
“I am waiting for the negotiations to start. I am not unreasonable, but I did put everything on the line when I took this job. There shouldn't be any issues. We will negotiate and find a reasonable middle ground.”
Immediately after his appointment last month, Cabanac came under heavy fire for his past posts on social media, now deleted, in which he reportedly played down the killing of protesters at the Sharpeville massacre and made comments about “poor Xhosas” moving to the Western Cape. He has also made disparaging comment about singer Freddie Mercury, who died of Aids, and supports the death penalty for people convicted of corruption.
Facing pressure, Steenhuisen buckled two weeks ago, asking Cabanac to resign and telling reporters he was “happy to admit we don't always get it right”.
This week, Steenhuisen said he had referred the issue to the department's human resources officials.
Cabanac told the Sunday Times he had first met Steenhuisen around 2018.
“In 2015 we started this podcast called Renegade Report on Cliff Central.
I am waiting for the negotiations to start. I am not unreasonable, but I did put everything on the line when I took this job. There shouldn't be any issues
“The first time I met John was when we interviewed him on Renegade Report. Subsequent to that I met him informally on three separate occasions. I say informally, because we were never really friends. I don't mean anything negative about John in saying that. It is just that I never went to his house and he never came to mine. We did not and do not have that kind of relationship. We saw each other when I interviewed him in his role as a politician.
“I also interviewed him a lot on my YouTube channel, Morning Shot, which I sold after he offered me the job as chief of staff. We had a friendly, professional relationship. Nothing less, nothing more.”
Cabanac also produced Helen Zille's short-lived podcast, Tea with Helen.
“People in the DA sort of knew me as this podcaster. Of course, I had other business interests because podcasting doesn't pay and I have a wife and three kids to look after. I never made any money from either podcasting or YouTube, I was doing it for fun. Morning Shot had 75,000 subscribers and a million views a month.”
Then, out of the blue, on inauguration day, Steenhuisen called him.
“People who know him will tell you that is a really rare occurrence because John is not very good with calls or messages,” he grins.
“He invited me for dinner. We met at the hotel where he was staying in Johannesburg and ate in the restaurant there.
“During the meal John said: 'Look, we need people from the outside to come in. The GNU is going to be a thing, although I don't know what ministry I will be working in yet.' He then said: 'You always said you are a patriot and would love to help the country. Well here is your opportunity, do you want to come in and help?'
“For me this was like a dream come true and I did not hesitate to say yes,” Cabanac said.
“It is one thing to pee into the tent from the outside, but when the opportunity arises to enter the tent and have a meaningful impact on the fresh reset of our country, you have to grab that opportunity with both hands. And that's what I did.
“He never told me what made him decide on me. I just had the sense that the DA did not have enough people who could fill these kind of positions and I think John has always been one of the — for lack of a better term to use — renegades in the political sphere.
“Look, I am not going to lie, we get on very, very well. I think he took an incredibly brave step in appointing me, someone from the outside, in such an important position, and I regret the fact that it exploded so badly in his face,” Cabanac said.
Cabanac claims his old tweets were “taken out of context by people who dislike me”.
He believes he is “unfairly” under siege.
“What critics now did to me is called 'grievance archaeology.' Obviously someone saved my Twitter timeline and that is what they now used to build the strawman Roman,” Cabanac said.
“I stand accused of being a racist and I would love to see real life evidence of this. I have never in my life treated anyone differently or badly just because of their skin colour. I get along with all South Africans, I feel comfortable in any situation, whether I am talking to Gayton McKenzie and his PA crew, or John Steenhuisen and the DA. For the record, I have never been a member of the party and I did not vote for them in this year's elections.”
Financially he is entering unknown waters.
“When I got the new job I sold my YouTube channel, resigned my directorships in other businesses and deleted my Twitter accounts because I wanted to focus on my job.”
His first month's salary should hit his account by Monday at the latest.
“But after that my financial future is uncertain.”
