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Cracks in the Government of National Unity (GNU) are widening on a daily basis as partners talk across or past each other, have public spats and threaten or give each other ultimatums. There are feelings of being undermined, disrespected and overlooked in the GNU.
During his speech in the Free State at the 113 years celebration, the Deputy President of the African National Congress (ANC) Mr Paul Mashatile gave the Democratic Alliance (DA) Minister for Public Works Mr Dean Macpherson an ultimatum to either toe the line or resign when he refused to implement the Expropriation Bill assented to by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Mashatile said every minister in cabinet is appointed by the President and all serve at the behest of the President and no minister will do as they please.
“Over the past few days as a nation, we took the right step regarding this as we witnessed the signing into law of the expropriation Bill by Ramaphosa; which will see the expropriation of land without compensation.
This is a critical step in the right direction towards the attainment of the vision outlined in the Freedom Charter; the ANC welcomes this major decision by the President and may this bare testament that we are committed to the ideals of transforming our economy and society at large. We shall not retreat in resolving the historic scene of land dispossession in our country,” said Paul Mashatile.
“There is a certain Mr called Macpherson, he says he is not going to implement this law, let me send a warning to him today, Mr Macpherson, if you are not going to implement this law please resign from the cabinet. No minister in our government will do as they wish; all ministers are appointed by the President and all of them are accountable to the President and must implement the laws of this country,” warned Mashatile.
Dean Macpherson says the Bill is constitutionally flawed and is not implementable with contradictory two sections in it. He said he is part of the GNU government because of his party, the DA, and he is there to serve the interests of the DA and that of the 3.5 million people who voted for the DA.
Macpherson also told the media that he found out about the Bill in the media, he was never briefed or consulted, he said he wrote letters to the President regarding the Bill but never received a response and that Ramaphosa assented to the Bill anyway ignoring the flaws he pointed out in the letter.
He accused the ANC of political point scoring with the Bill heading into the 2026 local election trying to win back some of the voters they lost to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP).
He also lashed out to Mashatile saying he only takes his marching orders from the DA Leader John Steenhuisen, not the Deputy President.
“I see the Deputy President of the ANC did an interview today saying that, if I am not going to implement the Bill then I should resign; there is only one person who will tell me to resign from government, that is the leader of this party, no other leader or other member of another political party will tell me when or how I should resign.
And it is that sort of arrogance that I think is unhelpful in the GNU, and I think it makes sort of some unpleasant encounters with one another, we are all here to do a job, we will have views on the job, I don’t give my views on the Deputy President’s performance or lack of performance; I keep that to myself and I think that other colleagues to should consider that as well when they put on their political t-shirts and cast their view on what another should do,” said Dean Macpherson.
