The DA has poured cold water on President Cyril Ramaphosa's remarks that its threats to vote against the budget had he not fired Nobuhle Nkabane as higher education minister, were empty.
The party insists it was not bluffing and the ANC and Ramaphosa were aware of that going into last week.
It said the move to fire Nkabane just days before parliament sat to vote on the appropriation bill and the departmental budget resulted from this very threat from the DA.
“We don't play poker, therefore we don't bluff. We never threatened to leave the GNU [government of national unity]; we said we would not support the budget of higher education as long as Nobuhle Nkabane was the minister,” said DA spokesperson Willie Aucamp.
“We got what we wanted when the president dismissed her on Monday. We will keep on applying pressure on the president to join us in the fight against corruption and fire minister Thembi Simelane as well.”
DA federal council chair Helen Zille echoed these sentiments, saying this is what they proposed to the ANC when its leaders came to lobby their support for the budget ahead of the vote.
“We were dead serious about our position and we told the ANC this when they sent people to lobby us,” she said.
This comes after Ramaphosa told the Sunday Times at the weekend the DA could never vote against the legislation allocating budgets to departments because it would have had to exit the GNU.
Speaking through spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa said he was never swayed by the DA’s threats in his decision to axe Nkabane.
“The DA was never not supporting that budget; the DA was always going to vote in favour of that budget with or without Nkabane in cabinet, because they are still responsible for a number of critical government portfolios that would have been immediately impacted if they didn't support the budget,” the president said through Magwenya.
The only time it was going to be a serious threat was if they decided to leave the GNU before the budget vote. The axing of Nkabane had nothing to do with that budget
— President Cyril Ramaphosa through his spokesperson Vincent Magwenya,
As far as Ramaphosa was concerned, had the DA voted against the appropriation bill, they would have had to leave the GNU, with all their ministers and deputies resigning.
He believes that by virtue of staying in government, the DA was making empty threats regarding Nkabane.
“The only time it was going to be a serious threat was if they decided to leave the GNU before the budget vote. The axing of Nkabane had nothing to do with that budget,” Ramaphosa said through Magwenya.
The president fired Nkabane over her botched Seta board appointments and for lying to parliament about the process after his analysis of the detailed report she sent to him.
The Sunday Times reported it had also learnt that weeks before her axing at least three cabinet ministers had tried to persuade Nkabane to apologise to parliament and the president over the appointment of the chairs of the Seta boards, but she refused to take their advice.
These cabinet ministers are said to have gone above and beyond trying to save Nkabane’s job, which it had become clear she would lose.
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