Now that the Appropriation Bill has been passed, an emboldened President Cyril Ramaphosa says the DA would never be able to vote against the legislation allocating budgets to departments because it would have had to exit the government of national unity (GNU).
This comes after the DA said this week that it only supported the Appropriation Bill, passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday, after Ramaphosa “succumbed” to its demand to fire controversial ANC MP Nobuhle Nkabane as higher education minister on Monday.
But Ramaphosa, through his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, told the Sunday Times this week that he was never swayed by the DA’s threats in his decision to axe Nkabane.
Magwenya said there would also would have been dire consequences for departments run by DA ministers, with serious implications for the stability of the GNU.
“The DA was never not supporting that budget; the DA was always going to vote in favour of that budget with or without Nkabane in cabinet, because they are still responsible for a number of critical government portfolios that would have been immediately impacted if they didn't support the budget,” the president said through Magwenya.
As far as Ramaphosa was concerned, had the DA voted against the Appropriation Bill,they would have had to leave the GNU, with all their ministers and deputies resigning. He believes that by virtue of staying in government, the DA was making empty threats by saying they would have not supported the budget had he not fired Nkabane.
It was an empty threat from the onset, the only time it was going to be a serious threat was if they decided to leave the GNU prior to the budget vote; then it would have been a serious threat. The axing of Nkabane had nothing to do with that budget, that threat was empty.
— President Cyril Ramaphosa, through his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya
“It was an empty threat from the onset, the only time it was going to be a serious threat was if they decided to leave the GNU prior to the budget vote; then it would have been a serious threat. The axing of Nkabane had nothing to do with that budget, that threat was empty,” Ramaphosa said through Magwenya.
The president last week fired Nkabane over her botched Seta board appointments and for lying to parliament about the process after his analysis of the detailed report she sent to him.
The Sunday Times has learnt that weeks before her axing at least three cabinet ministers had tried to persuade Nkabane to apologise to parliament and the president over the appointment of the chairs of the Seta boards, but she refused to take their advice.
These cabinet ministers are said to have gone above and beyond trying to save Nkabane’s job, which it had become clear she would lose, but they gave up when she refused to follow their advice.
“There were a lot of cabinet ministers who tried to assist this lady,” said a senior government official. “Everyone had the same sense that she created an unnecessary problem for herself, because they were saying to her, 'You go to parliament after you've withdrawn the appointments; you are going there in a position of strength because you are going to say I recognise the error that I made, I withdrew the appointments, I am going to restart the process and I will ensure that it's a process that is not clouded in any controversy or suspicion, full stop.'
“People were trying to help her, but she was not listening, she dug herself in. There are many ministers who reached out to try and help her.”
Magwenya told the Sunday Times that Ramaphosa had finally moved on Nkabane because he had satisfied himself that her position was untenable.
Over and above what Nkabane said to Ramaphosa in her report — which included the same lies she sent to parliament on the process — what appears to have broken the camel's back was her decision to snub parliament’s portfolio committee last week when more of the people she alleged were members of the Seta panel denied their involvement.
Advocate Terry Motau also told parliament that Nkabane lied to them when she said he had chaired the contested panel, which also seems to have raised the ire of Ramaphosa.
“When he finally decided that this is the decision he's taking, it was as a result of the outcome of his processing of that report in addition to other issues that were emerging in the public domain, for example Motau's assertion. The president could not ignore that,” Magwenya said.
“The president could not ignore the fact that Nkabane could not make it to a scheduled engagement with the portfolio committee. So it's a combination of all of these things. What transpired in parliament leading to the president requesting a report, to the president's processing of the report, as well as other issues that emerged after the president received the report. It was a culmination of all of those things.”
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