Communications Minister Solly Malatsi (Instagram)
Another unity government spat over contentious legislation has been defused after cabinet members accepted that Communications Minister Solly Malatsi’s unilateral withdrawal of the SABC Bill last month was without malice.
Khumbuzo Ntshaveni, the cabinet spokesperson and minister in the presidency, said Deputy President Paul Mashatile has written to parliament effectively overruling Malatsi’s attempt to withdraw it.
“The Bill is an executive Bill and the deputy president has written to the speaker to indicate that the Bill has not been withdrawn and Mr Malatsi has been advised that if he wants to withdraw a Bill, he must make a submission.”
She added: “Cabinet has accepted that there was no malice intended on the part of Mr Malatsi. It is part of the standard protocols that new ministers are still learning.”
Malatsi earned a public tongue-lashing from Ntshaveni a fortnight ago after pulling the Bill ahead of its second reading in parliament.
“This is not a private member’s Bill. This is not Minister Malatsi’s Bill. This is a Bill of cabinet. In terms of the law he cannot withdraw it without coming to cabinet for authorisation,” Ntshavheni said at the time. “We are very clear. The rules and the law are very clear.”
Malatsi’s step also drew the ire of the ANC caucus and his predecessor and current deputy, Mondli Gungubele, who tabled the Bill in parliament.
Days earlier, the minister wrote to speaker Thoko Didiza saying that the Bill had “several flaws” and had been the subject of “much criticism” from a range of stakeholders over issues regarding financial sustainability, editorial independence and political interference at the public broadcaster.
“Having carefully considered stakeholder and public submissions on the Bill, as well as consultation with key stakeholders in the media and civil society, it has become clear that the flaws within the Bill necessitate its withdrawal,” Malatsi wrote.
“The withdrawal, rather than trying to fix a fundamentally flawed Bill, will enable my department … to focus their efforts on formulating a sustainable and robots funding model for the SABC.”
The ANC and Democratic Alliance remain locked in a standoff over the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Actl.
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed it on 13 September, but delayed implementation for three months to allow the parties to continue to consult about contentious clauses on language policy and the autonomy of school governing bodies.
Last week Mashatile accused Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube of acting in bad faith by signing an agreement with labour union Solidarity, ending a dispute it had declared at Nedlac over clauses 4 and 5 of the Act.
Gwarube and Ramaphosa were named as respondents in the dispute, and the agreement was co-signed by Matsietsi Mekoa, the deputy director general for corporate management in the presidency.
In a statement issued after the signing, Gwarube stressed that the agreement did not “in any way serve as a substitute for the consultations that are currently under way” on the Act between coalition partners in the cabinet clearing house.
Mashatile said: “We call on all parties that signed the statement of intent to uphold their bona fides and cooperate with the official process. The Bela Act, like other Acts, is a product of parliament and the president, and no intervention can therefore downplay the centrality of these key role players.”
On Thursday, Ntshaveni said she, the president and the deputy president had not been informed of the agreement reached with Solidarity. A report on the matter was being prepared, she added.
Two senior ANC officials in the government this week privately expressed surprise that first Mashatile and then Ramaphosa, in a statement issued a day later, chose to rebuke Gwarube when a staff member of the presidency had co-signed the agreement and the minister made clear it did not supplant the clearing house process.