The public spat between the public works minister and his deputy played out in parliament this week during the state of the nation address (Sona) debate.
Public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson and his deputy Sihle Zikalala used their debates to launch scathing attacks on each other over the workings of the department of public works.
Zikalala has been clear that his demotion from minister to Macpherson’s deputy when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced his cabinet did not sit well with him.
Factually, this demystifies the myth that things are happening only now because there are new parties in government. Never mind that these parties boarded a train already rolling and delivering tangible results
— Sihle Zikalala, deputy minister of public works and infrastructure
He has also criticised Macpherson in parliament for saying he would not implement the Expropriation Act after Ramaphosa signed it into law.
“Ministers take an oath of office committing that they will obey and uphold the constitution and all other laws of the republic ... Therefore such a response is not only unfortunate but bears the need for self-development,” Zikalala said in relation to Macpherson’s stance on the act.
“I must say there are many ministers who would not have been comfortable with other acts, but upon taking office they implement them. We are seeing what was described by the late Dumisani Makhaye that ‘when racism is combined with ignorance, they produce arrogance.'”
The two KwaZulu-Natal natives are familiar with one another, having served in the provincial legislature. Their department is at the centre of implementing the act.
But Ramaphosa has instructed the two to sort out their differences, especially on the Expropriation Act, which has to be effected.
Zikalala on Wednesday tore into the DA, and by extension Macpherson, saying they had a propensity for taking credit for other people’s work.
He decried that Macpherson and DA leaderand agriculture minister John Steenhuisen have taken credit for work done before they were appointed in the cabinet.
Zikalala said most of the projects the department of public works was busy with had been started by the sixth administration when the ANC governed alone.
“Factually, this demystifies the myth that things are happening only now because there are new parties in government,” said Zikalala.
“Never mind that these parties boarded a train already rolling and delivering tangible results.”
He said like Steenhuisen, DA ministers were all speaking like everything their departments were doing was new and that they were “not in the habit of giving credit where it is due” as they were used to claiming easy victories for political point-scoring.
“They do not give accolades where they're due, not because of anything but hypocrisy and disrespect for the process of knowledge development,” said Zikalala.
Despite our progress, some in this house want this department to fail, while some members in this house seek out paid-for journalists and attempt to spread fake news through AI voice notes and falsified WhatsApps, including ActionSA and the EFF
— Dean Macpherson, minister of public works and infrastructure
“They do not value knowledge development, they have no appreciation that plagiarism is frowned upon among the knowledge community and scholars. Anyway, plagiarism and data integrity are not taught at the basic education level.”
In what could be seen as a jab at Zikalala and other former ministers of public works, Macpherson said he found the department in a dire state when he took over seven months ago.
“What I found in public works & infrastructure was an organisation crippled by neglect, inefficiency and corruption,” said Macpherson.
“Morale was low, and its core mandate — to build infrastructure, create jobs and ensure public assets serve the people — was failing. But in just seven months, that story is changing.”
Macpherson took another dig at Zikalala, attributing all the projects in the department to the DA. “This is what the DA was delivering in the GNU,” he said after listing every success at the department of public works.
“Despite our progress, some in this house want this department to fail, while some members in this house seek out paid-for journalists and attempt to spread fake news through AI voice notes and falsified WhatsApps, including ActionSA and the EFF,” said Macpherson.
“But we will not be distracted. We will not be bullied. We will not back down. We will not be pressured by false reports, political collusion or those being investigated for wrongdoing.”
Macpherson said under him, public works was no longer a department of slogans and was now a centre of delivery.
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