President Cyril Ramaphosa is said to have poured cold water on impassioned national working committee (NWC) members who were baying for the DA's blood during its meeting on Monday.
According to well-placed sources within the ANC, Ramaphosa's sentiments during the meeting, “displayed that he had no appetite to punish the DA”, for having rejected the budget and challenging his authority with threats to table a motion of no confidence against him.
“The president said 'there are some among us who say the DA must be punished, but they never explain what is meant by punishment'. That communicated to some of us that he does not intend to punish the DA,” one insider said.
The insiders said the ANC's officials did not table a report on the GNU, moving the topic for its next NWC meeting on July 14. The committee is expected to conclude a report over the state of the national unity government before the next NEC meeting on the weekend of July 18.
The ANC has been under growing internal pressure to kick the DA out of the GNU after it rejected the budget due to the proposed VAT hike — initially two percentage points (pp), and then two hikes of 0.5pp — and then successfully challenged the tax increase in court.
Some NEC members believe ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula has stalled on convening an NEC meeting out of fear that it would call for the DA’s removal from the GNU.
“The NWC expected that we would have a report by the officials after the budget saga. If you remember we had a meeting after the DA rejected the budget and there were various permutations on how we reconfigure or reset the GNU. That was not a generic discussion, because we discussed the options on how we reconfigure this GNU and we agreed that on the perspective presented we would give the officials time to rework the document and sharpen the proposal,” one insider said.
Another insider said they suspected that the national officials were divided over the DA's position in the GNU. They said while the party had postponed the discussions to their next meeting, they had little confidence the officials would submit a report on the DA.
The party's working committee is said to have resolved that it would not move against the DA over its recent actions against the GNU government.
ANC deputy president Paul Mashatile said the ANC will vote in favour of the budget regardless of the minister in charge.
Mashatile said the national dialogue would proceed, adding it was not about political parties but rather about the people
Mashatile made this remark after DA leader John Steenhuisen announced on Saturday that his party would reject budgets of ANC ministers implicated in wrongdoing. The DA was reacting to Ramaphosa's decision to remove its deputy minister of trade, industry and competition Andrew Whitfield last week.
Speaking to journalists while in Free State on Tuesday, Mashatile said the GNU would continue despite threats of a motion of no confidence against Ramaphosa by the DA.
“We are going to vote for all budgets. If the DA doesn't want to vote for any budget, that is their problem. The budget is not an instrument of a minister; the budget is for the people.
“So we as the ANC will vote for all budgets because we want this country to work. We will vote for all budgets because our people want us to fix the roads, they want water, they want electricity, they want us to grow the economy, employ the people and that is what the budget is all about, so we are proceeding,” he said.
The DA resolved to boycott the planned national dialogue, due to be held in the coming months to discuss the country’s socioeconomic problems. Steenhuisen argued that the national dialogue was a needless talk shop that was projected to cost more than R700m and would only do the ANC’s bidding.
Mashatile said the national dialogue would proceed, adding it was not about political parties but rather about the people.
“We want to involve as many people as possible in the country. We will be going out to different wards, engaging people, talking to them because at the end of the day we want to come out of that dialogue and say this is the South Africa we want to build together ... If some political parties don't want to participate and pull out, it doesn't mean that is the end of the national dialogue. The national dialogue will continue.”
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