DA’s Steenhuisen says not every policy conflict means the GNU will fail
He said while his party is committed to the success of the new government, it won’t, however, be a pushover on matters that don’t align with his party.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader and Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen.
CAPE TOWN - Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said not every conflict over policy within the Government of National Unity (GNU) is an existential crisis that will doom it to failure.
He said while his party is committed to the success of the new government, it won’t, however, be a pushover on matters that don’t align with his party.
Steenhuisen, who’s also the agriculture minister, addressed the Cape Town Press Club on Thursday on the DA’s role within the GNU, just two and a half months into the partnership.
The DA leader said in a new era of coalition politics, in which ten parties with differing views are trying to turn the country around, there will inevitably be disagreements.
He said it’s both normal and necessary.
“Not every single dispute within the GNU needs to be met with headlines of GNU on the brink of failing, or ‘The GNU: Will it last?’.”
But he said the DA also wouldn’t stay in the coalition at all costs.
“Indeed, if the ANC [African National Congress] insists on taking the country down the path of economic ruin, it would be our patriotic duty to leave the government and to use our position in parliament to stop the slide into catastrophe.”
In a difference of opinion on the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill, Steenhuisen is also not ruling out legal action if the president goes ahead to sign the bill into law on Friday.