By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Geordin Hill-Lewis has vowed that his party will publicly challenge the African National Congress (ANC) whenever it refuses to compromise on key policy issues within the Government of National Unity (GNU).
Hill-Lewis was addressing party members and supporters in Sandton, where he said the ANC needed to accept that it no longer had a mandate to govern as it had in the past.
The DA joined the so-called government of national unity two years ago, after the African National Congress (ANC) lost its parliamentary majority in 2024 elections for the first time since the end of apartheid.
The two parties have clashed over tax, land and education policies, with the DA accusing the ANC of failing to consult it on major government decisions.
“The DA will not remain silent when the ANC refuses to consult,” Geordin Hill-Lewis in his first major address to party members since becoming elected leader.
The speech came a day after he stamped his authority on the party with a reshuffle of DA members in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet. The moves included demoting his predecessor, John Steenhuisen, from the executive.
“The decision to join the government of national unity was the correct one,” Hill-Lewis said. “The alternative was to allow destructive populists into power. We could not, and let me be clear, will never allow that.”
He launched a blistering attack on the ANC’s three decades in government, saying the party had betrayed the promise of 1994 through cadre deployment, state capture, patronage politics and failed economic policies. He also unveiled what he described as a citizen-centred vision for South Africa, calling it the country’s “second transition”.
“The party is over. Our second transition is here. We must begin to prepare for a post-ANC future,” Hill-Lewis said.
Hill-Lewis accused ANC of placing loyalty ahead of competence, saying cadre deployment hollowed out the public service and laid the foundation for state capture.
He then also criticised Black Economic Empowerment (BEE), saying that although it was introduced to address historical injustices, it had largely benefited a politically connected elite while millions of South Africans remained unemployed.
“As implemented, BEE did not build broad black wealth. It allocated access to wealth narrowly, through the party, to those the party chose,” he said.
Hill-Lewis said he often meets black South Africans who have told him that they do not trust his party. He said he is working hard to win their trust.
He said he chose to remain outside the GNU after being elected DA leader in April to maintain his independence.
“I do not owe my position to Ramaphosa. I owe it to the millions of people who voted for us and to the millions who have not yet voted for us.”
The ANC received only 40.18 percent votes in the 2024 national elections, The DA, the main opposition party, received the second-highest number of votes (21.81 percent) followed by the MK Party (14.58 percent) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) (9.52 percent).