Mmamoloko Kubayi. File photo
The head of the ANC economic transformation committee, Mmamoloko Kubayi, says the Democratic Alliance (DA) demanding 12 cabinet posts and their own director generals as part of the government of national unity is “illegal and unconstitutional”.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Kubayi said the DA’s letter, in which it made the demands, and which was made public, “is full of ignorance”.
She said that for a party that claims to “work with lawyers”, she would have thought the DA would have given the letter to their legal advisers to check, before sending it.
“When you look at that letter, I don’t think they understood what they were writing. The Constitution says cabinet ministers are individually and collectively accountable, so they can never be a DA minister, or DA deputy minister. The Public Finance Management Act [PFMA] precludes ministers from interfering and or being part of supply chain and procurement processes,” she said.
“The letter already infringes on the PFMA and procurement. We also have labour laws in this country, when an employee is recruited and has a contract, you can’t wake up and say you need to terminate [a position]; it’s unlawful. You [can’t] wake up and say if I am the minister there, the director general must go.”
Kubayi said directors general were appointed by the president, not the minister, thus ministers can’t hire and fire them. This was one of the “basic things” the DA should have understood, she added.
She said that if the DA had “taken time to understand how cabinet functions” and how laws and policies function, it would have understood that to hire a director general entails a panel of ministers, not the minister responsible for that specific portfolio.
“Even if there is a vacancy, you write to the president to delegate the powers for you to do the recruitment, you put together a panel of ministers not you alone,” she said
“There is a minimum number of people that must be there, then you do the interviews — the shortlisting — and you don’t appoint but send it to the cabinet for it to look at. The final appointing authority is the president. So that letter [written by the DA] was full of flaws.”
In a letter dated 22 June, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula offered DA leader John Steenhuisen six ministerial posts and seven deputy ministerial positions. But this offer was rejected by DA federal council chair Helen Zille in another list of the party’s demands.
In response to Mbalula’s letter, Zille said it was “only fair and reasonable” for the DA to be represented across all cabinet clusters. This would include the ministries of mineral resources and energy, transport, and trade and industry.
She said her party also sought to have its own preferred candidates as deputy ministers in the same ministries where it would have ministers, except in the finance ministry, where the DA wanted to have one of its own as a deputy minister to Enoch Godongwana.
Zille’s letter also requested that where DA ministers were appointed, existing directors general were shown the door on the grounds that the incumbents may not work well with the incoming DA officials.
The demands by the DA have also been rejected by the ANC’s first deputy secretary general, Nomvula Mokonyane, who in an interview with Newzroom Afrika said no self-respecting organisation would agree with the demands the DA made.
Mokonyane said the DA was trying to impose its will on the ANC and the government of national unity and that the ANC could form a GNU with or without the DA.
Kubayi said the DA should also not ignore that “almost 80% of South Africans in terms of policy voted for centre-left or far-left policies”.
She said that should “humble the DA to understand that only 20% is on the liberal side”.
“You can’t claim to want a majority and to want to drive a majority when the voters’ aspirations are on the other side,” she said.
Asked when President Cyril Ramaphosa would announce his cabinet, Kubayi said that in the interest of stability, the president must ensure that he takes everybody in the GNU in confidence before making his announcement.
She said it was “reasonable” for the president to delay cabinet announcements to avoid future disagreements in the unity government.
“The ANC has said it would build a government of national unity, we must not be seen as disingenuous and dishonest. We must try our level best to bring everybody on board,” she said.
“Right now there are complications, but it is for better sustainability and if this thing can be ironed out now rather than later, it’s better that it is delayed so that what is announced can ensure that we have a functioning government.”
There have been concerns in the ANC that scores of the national executive committee (NEC) members would leave the organisation because it would work with the DA, which they view as a right-wing party.
Kubayi said it would be “immature” for NEC members to leave because they were “disgruntled”.
“Somebody will have to say what is the alternative, because all of the parties went out to fight and their course was to attack the ANC. Going to GNU is not because we are saying they are our friends — none of them are our friends.”
Kubayi also reflected on the party’s dismal showing in the May election where, for the first time in 30 years, the ANC dipped below 50%.
She said one of the main reasons the party did not do well in the election was that people did not vote. The new electoral rules that required citizens to vote where they registered had also affected the ANC vote.
Kubayi was part of those who were sent to the Eastern Cape by the ANC to try to garner support for the party.
The ANC’s electoral support in the province dropped from 68% in 2019 to 62% in the May 29 elections.
Kubayi said no opposition party could have gone toe-to-toe with the ANC in the Eastern Cape.
“What we need to respond to as the ANC is the issue of people not going out to vote. We have also been warned that if we do not pay attention to the renewal of the ANC, we are likely to lose power and now we know what it means.”