At a heart-warming event at a school in rural KwaNdebele recently, I asked a senior official from the basic education department, rather tongue in cheek, how she was getting along with her new minister, Siviwe Gwarube. I expected the usual denunciation of DA ministers we often hear from certain quarters, or for her to be guarded or non-committal at best. Instead, she was quite forthright and more than effusive in her praise.
Gwarube, she said, was a good listener, hard-working and seemed genuinely interested in getting to grips with the department’s many perennial problems.
“She could not have arrived at a better time,” she said of her new minister. “I’m very proud of her.” And she seemed to mean it.
I was reminded of this chance encounter after reading last week’s report in the Sunday Times that some unnamed ANC politicians were agitating for Gwarube to be sacked from the cabinet for insubordination. It seems to me the politicians are trying to fly a kite. They’re lobbing missiles from the security of anonymity. At the centre of the conflict is of course the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill (Bela) which President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law earlier this year. The Bela Act along with the National Health Insurance (NHI) Act are two of the most contentious pieces of legislation that have sown discord in the government of national unity. Both these laws seek to assert government control over key aspects of public life — education and national health.
In an effort to give a fillip to the ANC’s flagging campaign, Ramaphosa enacted the NHI bill days before the elections, amid strong opposition from opposition parties and organised business. It didn’t serve its purpose, however, as the ANC went on to fare badly in the polls. Ramaphosa, however, left the door open for further negotiations, which do not seem to have made much progress thus far. The president repeated the trick when he appended his signature to the Bela Act, but suspended the implementation of two clauses that give government bureaucrats final say over language and admissions policies — the crux of the opposition to the law.
Gwarube, whose party is firmly among the naysayers, boycotted the signing ceremony at the Union Buildings. But what has particularly riled the comrades is the so-called agreement or settlement which Gwarube purports to have entered into with trade union Solidarity at Nedlac. The presidency has dissociated itself from the agreement, and it would be a non-starter without Ramaphosa's assent.
It’s frankly not clear what Gwarube was hoping to achieve by such a gimmick, especially as negotiations between the parties are still on-going. Apart from muddying the waters, it has given enemies of the GNU a wedge to exacerbate divisions between the parties. Calling for her sacking, however, is not only a bit over the top, but could lead to the unravelling of the entire enterprise.
The Bela Act, like NHI, is an ANC project, and Gwarube, as the responsible minister, would be required to implement it. But she and her party are totally opposed to it. To try to ram it down her throat would not only be silly but would appear to be against the spirit of co-operation that Ramaphosa is trying to foster. Negotiation in good faith from both sides is therefore the only way forward.
The ANC is no longer in charge. It doesn’t wield untrammelled power anymore. They can’t even pass a single piece of legislation on their own
Despite comparisons with Nelson Mandela’s first democratic government, the current GNU is a different kettle of fish altogether. Mandela had an absolute majority, and all members of his executive served at his pleasure. Not so, Ramaphosa. He wouldn’t even be president had it not been for opposition votes. It’s a new experience with no precedent to follow, and everybody very much feeling their way along, if not flying by the seat of their pants.
But the feeling in ANC circles seems to be that members of opposition parties — a misnomer as they’re now part of the government — should metamorphose into enthusiastic advocates of ANC policies or check their principles at the door on becoming members of the cabinet. It’s a misconception or simply a refusal to accept the new reality. They need to wake up and smell the coffee.
The ANC is no longer in charge. It doesn’t wield untrammelled power anymore. They can’t even pass a single piece of legislation on their own. Politics is a numbers game, and they don’t have them. They can’t carry on exuding this aura of invincibility or self-importance as if they still call the shots. Some humility would be in order. The electorate, in its wisdom, decided not to give any one party the majority necessary to form a viable government. As Ramaphosa stated at his inauguration, the voters enjoined all the parties to work together for the benefit of the country.
The GNU implies that all the parties in it accept the fact that they won’t have their own way all the time. Every piece of legislation or policy should be subject to negotiation. Compromise — not shouting threats from the shadows — becomes the name of the game. Policy differences are after all the stuff of politics. But it would appear the ANC believes the other parties should be grateful to be granted a seat at the cabinet table; or that they are there simply to make up the numbers. But Ramaphosa would probably not be able to fire Gwarube even if he wanted to, without the connivance of John Steenhuisen. And if he were to go ahead regardless, the whole edifice would come crashing down, which is probably what the critics are aiming for.
But the fact that comrades are seeking the expulsion of Gwarube from the cabinet while giving the disgraced Thembi Simelane a protective embrace should tell you everything you need to know about the supposedly reforming Ramaphosa ANC. It gives the lie to the spin.
The ANC is ensnared in corruption just as an alcoholic can’t do without booze. But maybe they’d be perfectly fine with Gwarube if she too were accused of some malfeasance. They’d find comfort in numbers, I suppose. But the fact that she’s an articulate and independent-minded black woman belonging to a party that they regard as still mostly-white should not be dismissed as one of the reasons she seems to rub certain people the wrong way.
But more importantly, the ANC needs to stop using the education of our children as a political football. Of all the crimes committed by this government the damage done to education should surely rank among the worst. While stolen money can always be recovered or the culprits punished, the harm to young minds can neither be repaired nor reversed — and the ultimate damage to the country’s future is incalculable. They’ve literally run the system to the ground. Which is odd, given the fact that the former National Party government had abused education to stunt the mind of the black child in order to further its nefarious policies. And the ANC, instead of reversing that process, have simply accelerated it.
Many pupils are leaving the public school system unprepared for the challenges ahead. Morale among teachers is low, with many either quitting the profession altogether or leaving for greener pastures abroad.
The department also has to contend with swingeing budget cuts. What is required if these problems are to be tackled is stability, a steady hand at the top. And there’s no evidence yet to suggest, even from her critics, that Gwarube cannot provide such leadership.
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