Sam’s view
On Thursday, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa fired Andrew Whitfield, the deputy minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, for travelling abroad without approval. On the surface, the breach was serious enough to warrant action. Ministers are bound by collective discipline.
But timing and context matter. Whitfield had long-standing tensions with his senior, Minister Parks Tau, in a department that carries real weight at a tense time. According to officials familiar with the matter, the working relationship between the two had broken down. Something had to give.
In reality, the firing wasn’t just about protocol. It was a message — to Whitfield’s party, the Democratic Alliance, and others — that the African National Congress (ANC) still sets the tempo, even inside a Government of National Unity.
One person close to Ramaphosa, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the matter freely, told me that the president was incensed because by undertaking the unauthorized trip to Washington, Whitfield had inserted himself into sensitive trade discussions with the United States without permission, negotiations in which the president himself is taking the lead, underscored by his recent meeting with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.
There is also pressure building around a developing scandal linked to a Lotto-related tender. The presidency acted swiftly and without ceremony. The DA was informed — not consulted, according to three people I spoke with from either side.
The ANC, meanwhile, is no longer pretending that this is a coalition of equals. Over the weekend, ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula made it plain: the DA can go if it wants to. The DA’s ultimatum to reverse Whitfield’s firing or risk their exit expired without effect. The bluff was called. Internally, the party was divided, two DA sources said. Some saw the hardline stance as essential. Others feared being left behind. The result is a party still in government, but weaker than it was the week before. Loud, but less convincing.
That’s the real story. This GNU has no formal agreement — no signed coalition contract, no rules of engagement, no shared governance philosophy. What we have instead is a pay-as-you-go arrangement, where each decision extracts a toll — in credibility, in policy leverage, or in political momentum.
Ramaphosa, for once, acted with decisiveness. No drawn-out consultations. No consensus building. Just a swift assertion of control. It worked — for now. But unless that decisiveness becomes standard, not exceptional, it won’t resolve the underlying instability of a coalition built on improvised trust.
The chaos didn’t start with Whitfield. It exposed what’s been coming. The national budget had to be proposed three times, as GNU disagreements over VAT and fiscal targets spilled into Parliament. That’s not just coalition friction. It’s systemic risk — and investors are watching.
Let’s be clear: this is not a unity government. It’s a ceasefire wrapped in protocol.
Notable
- South Africa’s Democratic Alliance withdrew from an ongoing national dialogue of unity but stopped short of leaving the coalition government after Ramaphosa fired one of its deputy ministers, reported Reuters.