President Cyril Ramaphosa has laid down the law to DA leader and agriculture minister John Steenhuisen, warning him that any attempt to pull out of the interministerial committee (IMC) on the national dialogue will be seen as insubordination.
This is the first time Ramaphosa has threatened to pull the trigger against a Steenhuisen. Should Ramaphosa fire him, the implications for the already strained government of national unity would be dire.
Speaking to the Sunday Times this week, Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said it was Ramaphosa’s “sincerest” hope that the DA does not use the national dialogue as a battleground with Ramaphosa.
“It will be important for the sake of the DA’s continued participation in the GNU, that minister Steenhuisen is able to separate his ministerial obligations from his party positions,” Magwenya said.
“His refusal to participate in the national dialogue IMC will be regarded by the president as insubordination,” said Magwenya.
“He was duly informed of his appointment to the IMC as he was engaged on the national dialogue concept note along with other GNU party leaders. Anything to the contrary will be nothing short of disingenuous,” he said.
The warning by Ramaphosa places Steenhuisen in a tight spot after the DA last week announced that it was pulling out of the national dialogue over the sacking of its deputy minister, Andrew Whitfield, on June 25.
Steenhuisen, who sits in the IMC that is expected to run the dialogue on behalf of government, has drawn several red lines since the formation of the GNU — all of which Ramaphosa has crossed with very little consequence.
Last week Steenhuisen gave Ramaphosa 48 hours to reverse the axing of Whitfield, threatening “grave consequences” if the ultimatum was ignored. The consequences turned out to be a DA decision to boycott the national dialogue.
The Sunday Times understands that the DA leadership will meet tomorrow to decide how to proceed. Steenhuisen had not responded to questions from the Sunday Times at the time of going to print.
In firing Whitfield for undertaking a trip to the US without presidential approval, Ramaphosa accused him too of insubordination — the same charge that could be awaiting Steenhuisen.
The ANC’s national executive committee expects there will be calls at its meeting scheduled for July 18 that the GNU be reconfigured without the DA.
It is false for minister Steenhuisen to claim that there were no consultations with the GNU parties on the national dialogue or to assert that he had no knowledge of his assigned involvement into the IMC. We have e-mails and letters to substantiate our assertion in this regard
— Vincent Magwenya, Presidency spokesperson
A senior cabinet minister told the Sunday Times that four weeks ago Ramaphosa sent a stern warning to ministers that he would take action against any who failed to meet their obligations to various IMCs.
IMCs are cabinet subcommittees that deal with specific issues or policies requiring ministers from different departments to work together.
The cabinet member said Ramaphosa had expressed his dissatisfaction over ministers failing to attend IMC meetings, resulting in some failing to achieve a quorum.
“He said anybody who doesn’t attend their IMCs without a valid reason, he is going to deal with them decisively,” the cabinet source said.
“We were written letters about our nonparticipation in IMCs and it was a general letter to all of us to say, ‘I am warning you.’ I am saying this so that you understand that if he [Steenhuisen] attempts shenanigans and they deal with him, it can’t be because it’s John and it’s the national dialogue; it’s because there has been a warning to all of us.”
The national dialogue IMC, comprising 11 ministers and chaired by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, was established last month. Its terms of reference were to provide executive direction for the government’s role in the dialogue and to provide regular reports to the cabinet.
The committee was mandated to meet at least quarterly, or more often if required, with the next meeting expected to take place on Friday. The agenda is to introduce the eminent persons group to the IMC.
Magwenya said Steenhuisen could not plead ignorance over his required participation in the IMC because he had been informed in writing of his appointment.
“It is therefore false for minister Steenhuisen to claim that there were no consultations with the GNU parties on the national dialogue or to assert that he had no knowledge of his assigned involvement into the IMC. We have e-mails and letters to substantiate our assertion in this regard,” Magwenya said.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Steenhuisen said he had not been asked to be on the IMC. He said he received notice to attend its inaugural meeting on the day the meeting was held.
He complained that the DA had been locked out of preparations for the national dialogue and accused the ANC of having hijacked it to turn it to its own purposes.
“I will engage the president on the IMC matter, but I never asked to be on it,” he said.
Speaking at an event during the state visit by Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, where Steenhuisen was present, Ramaphosa denounced the DA boycott of the dialogue.
“This is precisely walking away from the people of South Africa and defining yourself outside what the people of South Africa are embracing ... What I can say is that the national dialogue will continue without the participation of the DA,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa has in the past resisted calls from the ANC to kick the DA out of the GNU. Recently the Sunday Times reported members of the ANC caucus had demanded that the “misbehaving” DA be dumped and that smaller parties be recruited to achieve a majority.
Insiders told the Sunday Times that more than 100 MPs — about two-thirds of the total number — confronted secretary-general Fikile Mbalula at a hostile meeting convened at short notice in Johannesburg in May.
ANC anger at the DA has been stoked by the stance of Steenhuisen’s party on the budget, which it stalled for several weeks due to objections to a planned VAT hike.
The NEC has failed to meet following the budget impasse, leading many in the party to believe that Ramaphosa was stalling because he feared the body would demand the DA be kicked out of the GNU.
One senior ANC leader said the DA’s future within the GNU was in its own hands.
"[Steenhuisen] not attending the IMC is collapsing the GNU, that’s how you should look at it. The ANC was going to discuss these issues [the future of the DA in the GNU] with or without Steenhuisen’s actions.
I hope that for the sake of DA and ... and the stability of the GNU, John does not make this thing a battleground because it will not end well
— Senior ANC source
“Knives are out and already sharpened, ready for this discussion in the ANC. The day they rejected the budget was the day the knives were prepared because we were saying the slaughtering may happen any day.”
Another well-placed government official said Ramaphosa regarded Steenhuisen’s actions as dishonest.
“If there’s one thing that pisses the president off, it’s when people are being disingenuous,” this source said.
“You can disagree with him on principle but don’t be disingenuous. Don’t agree on something with him, then go public and lambaste him and say something else. That really riles him up the wrong way.
“If John then comes and says ‘I didn’t ask to be part of IMC’, first thing he will be told is, you don’t ask, you’re appointed into an IMC, and there are reasons why you're appointed.
“Second, you were consulted as a GNU leader in the national dialogue. What you’ve said now is understood to be your party position, not your position as my minister.
“It’s one thing for the party to take a position, it’s another thing for ministers to act within their oath of office and to act within what is expected of them as cabinet members.
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