Frustration over dithering on new Cabinet announcement

Frustration over dithering on new Cabinet announcement

Cape Town - Irritation and frustration is at boiling point as South Africans wait on President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce his Cabinet.

Ramaphosa, according to insiders, on Friday met DA leader John Steenhuisen to iron out the number of Cabinet positions that the DA has asked for and which positions that should be.

The IFP, who was one of the earliest signatories to the Government of National Unity (GNU) agreement, yesterday voiced their frustration at the delay in the announcement of the Cabinet.

At a press conference yesterday, IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa said the past nine days, since the inauguration of the president, all the people of South Africa, the continent and the international community have anxiously awaited the president's announcement.

“It was expected, of course, that the president's announcement would not be made as swiftly as usual, for this Cabinet is not a Cabinet under majority rule, but must reflect a GNU. With 10 parties already signatory to the Statement of Intent, the complexities of forming a Cabinet are manifold.”

He said the IFP had been part of the GNU discussions from the start and signed the Statement of Intent “agreeing on the broad principles of how the GNU would function and where its focus would lie”.

They were subsequently engaged in the formation of the GNU, holding discussions with the ANC and the DA.

“From the outset, the IFP has maintained that those discussions should be respected and given space to pave the way forward. So when alarmist reports began to emerge of a potential stalemate between the ANC and the DA, the IFP was not immediately concerned. Now, however, like all South Africans, the IFP is growing concerned,” Hlabisa added.

“Our concern is for a country that is eager to move forward. The work of governance must begin. We cannot remain in a holding pattern…”

There seems to be growing frustration that the DA is holding the ANC to ransom, with some political analysts even calling on the ANC to ditch the DA in favour of the EFF and MK Party.

According to analyst Professor Sipho Seepe, the DA has become emboldened after being invited by the ANC to form the GNU, and the ANC will play second fiddle if the envisaged GNU is formed to lead the seventh administration.

Ramaphosa has called for the opening of Parliament to take place on July 18, as a platform for him to outline the priorities of the seventh administration.

“The president has asked that Parliament convene in terms of Section 84(2) (d) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, read with Rule (13) (1)(a) of the joint rules of Parliament,” said Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya yesterday.

The ANC's national executive committee was expected to meet this weekend to discuss the impasse with the DA over Cabinet positions.

A senior ANC insider had confirmed the meeting, saying there were frantic attempts to “cool down” tempers after the DA's list of demands, which sparked an exasperated reaction from Ramaphosa.

“At this stage, the NEC of the ANC must lead because Ramaphosa is a highly compromised individual. The ANC must be honest with us, in saying these are the things it has promised the DA. The ANC must not pretend that it has not sold its soul,” said Seepe.

Seepe said the only other option for Ramaphosa was to coalesce with the EFF and MK Party led by former president Jacob Zuma.

“But he preferred to work with white people than to work with black people. The way the DA is behaving, it is something that Ramaphosa has created, so there is no sympathy for his annoyance. He chose his partners. Remember Helen Zille once said she looks forward in her lifetime, that the ANC would be dead,” said Seepe.

“So you go to bed with people who wish that the ANC ceases to exist. What do you expect? The GNU is not going to be workable. The DA is going to lead the GNU. We must not beat about the bushes. The guys in the DA are bringing the muscle of white capital.

“Ramaphosa's presidency has been sponsored by the same white capital. If they want to remove him, they can. Ramaphosa cannot bite the hand that feeds him,” he said.

In the general elections last month, the ANC received its worst election result since the end of apartheid 30 years ago, resulting in the loss of its absolute majority in Parliament.

Last week Ramaphosa had officially begun his second term after his party formed a GNU, which included its long-standing rival, the DA, with eight smaller parties namely the IFP, Patriotic Alliance, GOOD party; Pan Africanist Congress of Azania; Freedom Front Plus, United Democratic Movement, Rise Mzansi and Al Jama-ah.

Weekend Argus