Ramaphosa takes on DA MP and defends Lesufi in parliament

President Cyril Ramaphosa took on a DA MP who called him out for failing to rein in Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi during his appearance in parliament.

“I’m tempted to say, what type of a question is that?” Ramaphosa said sarcastically to DA chief whip George Michalakis.

The DA was asking a follow-up question on whether Ramaphosa believed the GNU should cascade to provincial and local governments.

The party believes Lesufi and the ANC Gauteng have gone rogue and defied Luthuli House directives to include the DA in the provincial government. It also believes the decision to remove Cilliers Brink as mayor of Tshwane was a continuation of Lesufi's and the ANC in Gauteng's defiance of Luthuli House. 

Michalakis asked Ramaphosa why, if he believed the GNU should also be implemented at provincial and local levels, he was unable to instruct him to stop his so-called defiance. 

“Without being flippant, I'm tempted to say, what type of a question is that?” said Ramaphosa while answering questions in the National Assembly.

“But then again, to observe the decorum that I should have here is that, in the end, as I said earlier, the issue of how parties work together really depends on their willingness and determination to embrace one another and find solutions and to listen to one another, and in listening to one another, they should be able to seek solutions.”

Ramaphosa said the working together of different political parties to establish their own governments of provincial and local unity was also anchored in the chemistry between the parties and their leaders.

“But also, in the end, it depends on the chemistry, the chemistry among the participants themselves. And I think we should also rely on the key area of the principles that those who are participants should adhere to,” said Ramaphosa.

“So I will not specifically refer to any of the areas where parties are seeking to work together, be it in Gauteng, in KZN, in Western Cape or wherever. That should be left to the participants guided by key principles that they should all adhere to.”

Ramaphosa said he was aware of the bloated and costly GNU cabinet which, including its support staff, was likely to cost taxpayers about R600m.

The government has 32 ministers and 43 deputy ministers, all of whom have staff in their private offices.

Each minister has a chief of staff with an average salary of R1.4m, a private secretary, a parliamentary liaison officer, a media liaison person, a community outreach officer and at least one household aide, with salaries ranging from about R1.2m down to R200,000 for the aides.

Other ministers have special advisers with salaries of R2.3m.

Ramaphosa said that though he had undertaken to reduce the cabinet, the results of the May 29 elections threw a spanner in the works.

“I took the trouble to discuss it with the various leaders of the various political parties. And I did say this is the reality that we now face as we establish the government of national unity, as we seek to engender stability in our country and said that for a time, we will need to bear the cost to ensure that there is stability and we move forward with the government of national unity,” said Ramaphosa.

“I have said in the past that, yes, we do need to reduce our executive but this time, due to the exigency of the situation that we face, as well as the circumstances that we are subjected to, we had to come to this point, but we will keep an eye on the costs on an ongoing basis.”

Ramaphosa said the cost of GNU was “top of mind” and that he was not happy as “we do need to ensure that every rand is spent advancing the overall interest of our people. 

“But right now, in setting up the government of national unity, we had to get to this point, but we will keep an eye on the expenditure side of our budget.”

TimesLIVE