The Government of National Unity has been fraught with issues following the decision by President Ramaphosa to dismiss Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry, and Competition, Andrew Whitfield, due to his earlier trip to the United States with the Democratic Alliance (DA).
In response, the DA has removed itself from the National Dialogue, with Chairperson of the DA Federal Council and Helen Zille, maintaining that the party had the option to begin a vote of no confidence in the President if her party were taken lightly.
Speaking on VOC’s NewsBeat Show, political analyst Professor Amanda Gouws lists this latest dispute as a byproduct of the lack of maturity in the coalition, arguing that the president was within his rights to dismiss the former minister given the context the trip was undertaken.
“The problem here is that it was right at the time when there were really serious tensions between the United States and South Africa. Sending a DA delegation was a problem because it was not a government delegation, and I think this is the issue the president had,” said Gouws.
The dispute between the DA and the ANC is one of many issues the Government of National Unity has faced, alongside the BELA Act and NHI Act, with Gouws arguing that these issues in the public realm distract from the real issues in the Republic.
“This is the issue of parties; sometimes the DA goes at it alone and other times the ANC goes at it alone as if they thought they were not in a Government of National Unity, and that certainly does not inspire confidence from the voters and the citizens,” stated Gouws.
Listen to the full interview here:
