By Enyichukwu Enemanna
South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU) has come under further threat following the exit of the Democratic Alliance (DA), the second-largest member of the coalition government, from a national dialogue after the sack of one of its deputy ministers by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The national dialogue was initiated by Ramaphosa to unite the country after last year’s election, which saw his party, the African National Congress, lose its parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades, forcing it to team up with the DA and others in order to form a government.
The withdrawal from the dialogue was announced on Saturday by leader of the Democratic Alliance, John Steenhuisen, but he was silent on whether his party will pull out of the GNU.
ANC and DA are of different political ideologies and have clashed repeatedly since the beginning of their coalition, with the white-dominated DA accusing the ANC of acting against its interests and without proper consultation.
The leader of the DA said his party’s federal executive had also considered presenting a motion of no confidence against Ramaphosa, but later dropped it.
The party was however, “in the process of losing confidence in his ability to act as a leader not of the ANC, but of the GNU,” Steenhuisen stated.
Earlier in the week, Ramaphosa relieved Deputy Trade Minister Andrew Whitfield of his duty over an unauthorised trip to the United States, asking the DA to nominate a replacement.
