Lamola tells DA to decide whether it wants to be in GNU or in opposition

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and ANC MP Ronald Lamola says the Democratic Alliance (DA) must decide whether it wants to be in government or in opposition, arguing that it cannot be both.

He made the remarks during a heated debate on the State of the Nation Address (SONA) at a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces on Wednesday. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to respond to the debate on Thursday afternoon.

Lamola was responding to a speech by DA MP Baxolile Nodada.

“Honourable Nodada, everything you have just claimed here was started by the ANC sixth administration. You cannot have your cake and eat it,” Lamola said.

“The DA needs to decide whether it is in government or it is in opposition. You cannot be both. In this House, we are confronted by two dangerous extremes.”

He described one as extreme left and the other as extreme right, saying both were “counter-revolutionary” and led to destruction and polarisation in society.

“Africa’s greatest son of literature, Ben Okri, once asked: to poison a nation, poison its stories. A demoralised nation tells demoralised stories to itself. And this is what the honourable members of the opposition have been doing,” he said.

Lamola also criticised the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party).

“The MK is shouting rhetoric about selling out and claiming that public-private partnerships in the economy amount to wholesale privatisation,” he said.

He added that some of the party’s leaders, “including your unelected supreme leader”, were part of the generation of the African National Congress, referring to former president Jacob Zuma, who now leads the MK Party.

The ANC officially cut ties with Zuma in July 2024 after its national disciplinary committee resolved to expel him following a hearing held on July 23, in his absence.

The party accused Zuma of contravening Rule 25 of its constitution by forming the MK Party and indicating he would vote with it, while remaining an ANC member. 

The MK Party made its public debut in Soweto on December 16, 2023.

Nodada, meanwhile, said the DA joined the Government of National Unity (GNU) to “rescue South Africa, arrest, decline and rebuild the country”, while challenging failed policies of the past and stopping what he described as “MK and EFF chaos”.

However, tensions have persisted within the GNU, led by the ANC, amid policy differences between the DA and the ANC. 

The DA has repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the coalition but has remained, saying it aims to grow the economy, create jobs and fight corruption.

“We want to create economic growth and employment opportunities for the people left behind by decades of failure. We want to fight corruption and cadre deployment and tackle the rising cost of living,” Nodada said.

“We have done this, but still have a long way to go in rescuing South Africa. It was the DA who stopped the 2% VAT hike to protect South Africans from the rising cost of living that would have plunged more people into poverty and hunger.”

He credited DA ministers with several interventions.

Nodada claimed that the DA Minister of Public Works, Dean Macpherson, exposed an R890m tender involving the IDT chief executive, Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber dismissed officials accused of issuing identity documents to undocumented foreign nationals, and Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube halted a R9.8bn school nutrition tender.

Nodada said Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen had opened new export markets for South African products to boost economic growth and job creation.

He added that Communications Minister Solly Malatsi had removed the luxury tax on smart devices costing less than R2,500 to expand access for low-income households.

“‘System offline’ will be a thing of the past thanks to the DA Minister of Home Affairs. No more queues and being told to come back tomorrow for our IDs when we can collect them from banks in villages, towns and cities,” he said.

Turning to Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela, Nodada said these developments were not accidental but the result of DA ministers’ work.

“Mr President, the DA is not in the GNU to go along to get along; we are here to fight for the people of South Africa on issues that matter most to them. Rest assured, we will continue to fight against bad ANC policy that is harming the interests of all South Africans,” he said.

Nodada said the DA would challenge Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), which he described as a “cadre enrichment scheme dressed up as redress”. 

He said it should be replaced with the DA’s empowerment model, focused on poverty as a measure of disadvantage rather than benefiting “the corrupt and criminal” such as Edwin Sodi and controversial businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.

He also criticised governance in municipalities not led by the DA.

“Sadly, similar GNU successes are not felt at local municipalities. Without DA governance, local municipalities suffer. Life is demonstrably worse in municipalities where the ANC and the EFF, PA, ActionSA coalition of chaos governs,” he said.

He claimed Johannesburg residents had endured months without water, malfunctioning traffic lights and pothole-ridden roads.

“The EFF leader came here to complain about Premier Lesufi’s hotel showers, yet it is the EFF/MK that gave out-of-touch Lesufi to the people of Gauteng,” Nodada said, referring to Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi.

He added that it was the EFF, PA, ActionSA coalition that gave City of Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero to the city.

“Don’t come here and act holier than thou - you are the creators of the water crisis in Johannesburg because you allowed cadres to eat the infrastructure maintenance budget,” he said.

He further criticised the MK Party, saying, “The less said about the MK dressed like toy soldiers in fake military gear the better.”

Nodada said Nelson Mandela Bay had suffered prolonged electricity blackouts and that Knysna faced a water crisis under an ANC-Patriotic Alliance coalition.

He added that many rural towns and villages still lacked access to clean water, roads, schools, clinics and economic opportunities.

“Corruption is the order of the day, with money meant for service delivery being stolen,” he said.

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