Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube being sworn into cabinet by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. (Photo by Misha Jordaan/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
Tensions between the ANC and Democratic Alliance (DA) have hit their highest point in six months after the knives came out in the ANC for Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube.
It drew the first unambiguous threat from DA leader John Steenhuisen that the future of the coalition government formed in June could be at risk.
Sources close to Steenhuisen said he meant every word when he warned on Sunday that he would lead his party out of the government of national unity (GNU) if President Cyril Ramaphosa were to fire Gwarube, or any other DA member of cabinet.
“The ANC don’t get to pick and choose,” is how one senior DA member put it.
ANC sources said the reported call to Ramaphosa to reconsider Gwarube’s tenure was sabre-rattling by a faction in the party that has been opposed to the GNU and was redoubling efforts to destabilise it, as the 13 December deadline to resolve the standoff over the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act draws close.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, on Monday reiterated that he was not aware that any consideration was being given to firing Gwarube.
But sources told the Mail &Guardian there was “unhappiness” about the minister’s conduct as part of the government, driven by a sense that she has not shown deference to Ramaphosa.
They said this stemmed partly but not only from the fact that she did not inform the presidency before signing an agreement with labour union Solidarity at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) to resolve a dispute it had filed over the contentious clauses in the Bela Act, and likewise did not consult his office before issuing a statement announcing the accord.
The minister and the presidency were listed as the respondents in the dispute Solidarity lodged about sections 4 and 5 of the Act.
Gwarube on 28 November signed a three-page agreement with Solidarity in which she committed to advise Ramaphosa that regulations clarifying the legal import of the sections, with regard to mother tongue teaching and the powers of school governing bodies to set language policy, should be adopted first before the law is implemented.
The agreement was co-signed by Matsietsi Mekoa, the deputy director general for corporate management in the presidency.
Magwenya said Mekoa did not have a mandate to sign it.
“As a matter of practice in the presidency, the responsibility for section 77 applications at Nedlac, is managed administratively by officials within the department,” he said.
“Neither the president nor the deputy president were involved in the process, nor did they give any consent to both the substance and signing of the Nedlac settlement agreement.”
Magwenya suggested Gwarube should have consulted the presidency before issuing a public statement about the agreement.
Gwarube’s office countered late on Monday that she did.
“The assertion that the ministry did not consult the office of the president before issuing the Nedlac settlement statement is untrue. The presidency was aware of the statement and its general contents in advance.”
In that statement, she undertook to impress upon Ramaphosa that every child had a constitutional right to be taught in their mother tongue where possible. It is a hot-button topic for the DA because of its existential importance for the party’s Afrikaans voters and donors.
Gwarube stressed that the Nedlac process had no bearing on ongoing efforts in the coalition clearing house to resolve an impasse over the same clauses.
But she was accused of bad faith by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, who chairs the clearing house, before Ramaphosa reminded her that enacting the bill was his prerogative.
“The agreement bears no influence on the president’s powers to ultimately take a decision regarding the commencement of the Act,” Ramaphosa said at the time.
Ramaphosa had not raised his displeasure with Steenhuisen, whom some in the president’s circle feel has shown little respect for him.
Sources in the DA confirmed that there has been little effort to cement a strong personal relationship with Ramaphosa since June, when the DA and ANC entered into a coalition which now counts 10 parties but where the two biggest hold 60% of seats in the National Assembly.
The DA leader offended the ANC when he criticised Ramaphosa for calling Russia a friend and ally when he greeted President Vladimir Putin at the Brics summit in Kazan in October.
The row over foreign policy deepened last month when the DA’s deputy international relations spokesperson, Ryan Coetzee, sent a letter to Ramaphosa with proposals on improving South Africa’s management of its G20 presidency. He simultaneously published the letter, which carried Steenhuisen’s approval.
Steenhuisen on Sunday accused the ANC of twisting the facts about Bela and the Nedlac process.
“This process is entirely separate from the consultation process, and conflating the two is misleading, and factually incorrect,” he said.
“This was a mandatory process, in terms of the law, to prevent strike action arising out of the dispute. The outcome of this engagement was a settlement, signed by the minister of basic education, the presidency, and the union.”
He added: “The fact that the presidency has now distanced itself from this legislated process, which they were party to, is as disgraceful, as it is confusing.”
Steenhuisen said he would like to make his support for the process that Gwarube had followed clear.
“The DA rejects any attempt by a faction of the ANC to influence the president to fire Minister Siviwe Gwarube, or any other DA minister, for doing their jobs.”
“Doing so would signal an end to the government of national unity,” Steenhuisen said.
The clearing house is due to meet on Thursday and will then report to Ramaphosa progress, if any, on resolving the dispute over the Act.
Despite a raft of technical meetings in the past three months, there is no accord as yet.
Gwarube’s office said she believed good progress has been made in preparing for the implementation of the Act.
“The minister is deeply committed to ensuring that the Act, together with the necessary supporting national policies, regulations and norms and standards, are implemented in the best interests of learners and the basic education sector.”
It added that she would not allow speculation about her position to distract her from the task at hand, and would on Tuesday be meeting European Union ambassadors in a bid to unlock funding to improve educational outcomes.
“This demonstrates that the minister is focused on doing the important work required of her portfolio.”
A government source close to the ANC said the fallout around her, and the agitation of factions in the party, has made it unlikely that Ramaphosa will extend the consultation period further given how charged the atmosphere in his own party has become.
“The issue has been heavily politicised.”
Within the GNU, objection to the Act in its current form is confined to the DA and the Freedom Front Plus, which makes it easier for Ramaphosa to move ahead.
Rise Mzansi MP Makashule Ghana, who represents his party in the clearing house, on Monday again called for the Act to be implemented.
“We cannot go into the new year with this. The clearing house has other issues to deal with, it is the cabinet clearing house. It cannot become the Bela clearing house,” he said.