DA leader John Steenhuisen has thrown down the gauntlet, saying he runs the show in the DA and not the party’s federal chairperson Helen Zille.
Steenhuisen was responding to Sunday World in Durban on Friday in the aftermath of what appears to be a fallout between the ANC and the DA straining relations within the government of national unity (GNU).
At the heart of the hostile relations between the key parties in the governing arrangement was Zille, who insists the DA was the vital cog holding the pact together.
She futher said this was in black and white and that there is nothing President Cyril Ramaphosa can do without consulting the DA.
Zille’s utterances did not only rub the ANC top brass the wrong way but it also affirmed the long-held perception that Steenhuisen was not in charge of the blue party but Zille is instead the one pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
“I’m the leader of the party and the only one who gives the direction and how we should participate in the GNU and nobody else. I deal with the relations in the GNU,” said Steenhuisen.
He made it clear that the blue party will not allow bad vibes to ruin relations in the GNU, defining the multi party government as the country’s precious resource that should be protected at all costs.
“We must not be distracted with the utterances of individuals in all parties. I’m in the coalface. Bickering does not help anyone. Instead, it will allow the breakers in the form of EFF and MK Party to come in and break the GNU,” he said.
The DA was rewarded with six cabinet posts for its involvement in the GNU including the critical portfolios of agriculture, which Steenhuisen heads, public works and infrastructure, home affairs and the department of basic education among others.
While the GNU in its early stages involved the ANC, IFP and the DA, the ANC later
extended a hand to other smaller parties to join in.
Steenhuisen also took the opportunity to delve into his new role in Ramaphosa’s cabinet, pointing out that his mission is to increase agricultural output in the country and ensure that women are not kept in the peripheries of the agricultural economy value chain. He said while his detractors viewed his appointment to the portfolio as rolling back the gains in the highly untransformed agricultural sector, he was out to disappoint them.
“All I can tell you is that I will disappoint all naysayers. I will spearhead transformation initiatives and make agriculture the new gold and drive new jobs,” he said.
