Those of us who had begun to worry that new DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis had gone strangely and even dangerously quiet in the first six weeks of his leadership have been rudely reminded he has balls.
Six months ago he was determined not to stand for the leadership against John Steenhuisen because, as he would say, “He’s my friend.” Party funders forced the issue, though, and Steenhuisen didn’t put up any kind of fight. He was stepping away from party leadership, he said, to “concentrate” as minister of agriculture on crushing the formidable epidemic of foot-and-mouth disease.
But farmers and powerful DA-sympathetic commentators like Frans Cronje, editor of The Common Sense, didn’t like what they saw Steenhuisen doing. They accused him of failing to allow farmers to vaccinate their own herds, in the interest of speed.
The fear that Steenhuisen might be alienating a critical slice of the DA vote strengthened to the point that early in the week Hill-Lewis asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove him and appoint him deputy minister at the department of trade, industry & competition, where he will have little power over policy.
Steenhuisen is to be replaced in the DA reshuffle by Willie Aucamp, a farmer. Western Cape education MEC David Maynier, a Harvard Kennedy School graduate, will become forestry, fisheries & the environment minister to replace Aucamp — who had himself only recently replaced Dion George, who, as DA finance chair, roused Steenhuisen’s ire by challenging his use of a party credit card.
For the rest, Alexandra Abrahams moves from deputy minister at the DTIC to the same post at electricity & energy, replacing Samantha Graham-Maré; Gauteng workhorse Jack Bloom becomes deputy minister at water & sanitation, replacing Sello Seitlholo; and Yusuf Cassim replaces Mimmy Gondwe as deputy minister of higher education.
Hill-Lewis appears to be trying to ensure that, despite being a junior partner in the GNU, his people have as much impact as possible in areas they can influence
In all, sound appointments. Hill-Lewis appears to be trying to ensure that, despite being a junior partner in the GNU, his people have as much impact as possible in areas they can influence.
But until Ramaphosa implements them, these changes only have the status of requests. That invites the obvious danger that Ramaphosa, as usual, takes his time. That could cause deep discomfort in the DA.
On the other hand, Ramaphosa needs to keep Hill-Lewis onside as he tries to interdict impeachment proceedings against him in parliament over the Phala Phala affair, in which more than half-a-million in dollar bills were stolen from inside a sofa at his game farm. I’m assured Hill-Lewis personally consulted Ramaphosa on the changes to the DA positions, but the whole thing could still take a few weeks as some of the DA deployees will first have to become MPs.
But we have at least learnt that Hill-Lewis, baby-faced and innocent as he may appear, has some steel in his belly and it is quite possible that in making some of the changes — Steenhuisen and Bloom come to mind — he would have sought the counsel of party matriarch Helen Zille.
The job now is to make an impact. The ANC is in no condition to make any changes to its policies — it is irretrievably fractured and incapable of reflection — but there is still room for the DA to work in, perhaps particularly where big state monopolies like Eskom and Transnet are resisting Ramaphosa’s reforms.
The DA needs to find a way of uniting around issues that capture the public imagination. Should repeat offenders keep on being allowed out on bail? Are there key blood tests everyone between 35 and 60 should have a right to, on the understanding that the state will treat any conditions they expose? Should the national matric pass rate be raised from 30% to 40%? Should the old apartheid-era cattle-dipping regime be reinstituted? Could qualified and experienced illegal immigrants be allowed to stay in the country if they agree to live in and work for broken municipalities?
If I were Hill-Lewis, I would promise to oppose future town and city name changes and reverse all those made in the past five years until a process can be found that ensures open debate about new names and that any changes are decided by a popular local vote overseen by the electoral commission.
Hill-Lewis has shown us he is going to be his own man, and that’s good. But his work has barely begun.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.