The nixing of the SABC Bill and the evolving tensions in the national coalition

On Sunday it emerged that Communications Minister Solly Malatsi, from the DA, had withdrawn the draft SABC Bill from Parliament, despite the fact it had been proposed by his predecessor, the ANC’s Mondli Gungubele, who is currently his deputy minister.

This is significant for several reasons. Most importantly, it was the first time the DA had been assertive in the national coalition.

In the past, it has opposed moves by the ANC to implement the Bela Act and the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill. But, as the smaller of the two major parties in the coalition, it has (so far) been unable to stop the ANC from moving forward.

Also, in these two cases, the ANC was pushing ahead with legislation passed by the previous Parliament. In other words, it was moving forward with laws that were passed when it still had a majority.

Here the DA has been assertive and essentially cancelled an ANC Bill.

It was the first time that a minister from one party and a deputy minister from another party in the same ministry have publicly disagreed with each other.

After Malatsi’s decision became public, Gungubele said on X, “The SABC financial stress has been there for too long. Prolonging it any further cannot be justified when most controversial matters are mostly agreed, amendment approach makes a huge sense.”

Read more: The SABC Bill — a massive blow to public broadcasting as we know it

While there are other ministries with ministers and deputy ministers from different parties with the potential for public differences (most notably including the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition), the Communications Ministry always had a high level of potential for this kind of public dispute.

This is because it is one of only two ministries where a former ANC minister is now the deputy minister to a DA minister (the other is Public Works and Infrastructure).

That said, it has happened in the past that an ANC minister and an ANC deputy minister have disagreed in public (most notably when then deputy mineral resources minister Godfrey Oliphant confirmed to 702’s Xolani Gwala that he had been excluded from processes by the then minister, Mosebenzi Zwane).

DA’s defence

What needs to be asked is whether Malatsi’s move was a deliberate response to the ANC’s actions over the Bela Act and the NHI Bill.

The timing is intriguing. Last week the DA held a protest against the Bela Act. One of those who joined the march was the leader of the party, John Steenhuisen, who is also the minister of agriculture.

The fact that the Bela Act is also about language policy and primarily Afrikaans (Solidarity and AfriForum have led the opposition to it) suggests this is an important issue for a large DA constituency.

In short, this might have been the DA telling the ANC that it can use its position in government to frustrate the ANC’s aims, while also telling voters that it will be assertive in government.

Read more: After the Bell: Get the popcorn! Another GNU ruckus, this time about the SABC

Of course, what can be missed in all of this politicking is that the SABC Bill as it was before it was withdrawn would not have been good for the public broadcaster. One of its clauses would have given the communications minister the power to appoint an SABC board.

As the board has the power to appoint a CEO and a head of news and current affairs, this would have been hopelessly political and would have led to more disputes at a time when the SABC urgently needs money.

On Wednesday, Steenhuisen was asked on Newzroom Afrika whether Malatsi’s decision was revenge against the ANC for its actions on the Bela Act and NHI Bill.

He replied, “You’d have to speak to Solly Malatsi about his reasons … the Bill was flawed and I think there was no use in his mind in pressing ahead with a Bill that was fundamentally flawed.”

Meanwhile, the National Treasury recently confirmed that just under R3-billion has been allocated to National Health Insurance. While this is all for preparatory work, the DA might see this as a sign the ANC is determined to continue with NHI.

This could help the DA as it can argue to its voters that it must stay in the coalition to fight the NHI Bill at every step.

That said, there are red lines. If Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi were to go ahead with his stated plan to ban medical aid schemes, the DA would almost certainly have to leave the coalition (perhaps the only circumstance under which the DA could argue to its voters it should stay in the coalition at that point would be if the ANC threatened to replace it with MK).

Political cover

Meanwhile, a little more light is emerging about the progress being made around the Bela Act.

While the Act has been signed, President Cyril Ramaphosa suspended the implementation of two contentious clauses to allow for negotiation with those who oppose it.

Ramaphosa is under pressure from some members of his party to implement those clauses unchanged.

Among those who want him to do this is Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, who has been one of the most vocal critics of the national coalition from within the ANC.

In the Newzroom Afrika interview, Steenhuisen said that on the Bela Act, “I do believe progress is being made; it’s been sent to the clearing house … a subcommittee has been formed … bilaterals are taking place and we are slowing moving forward to some form of compromise on the matter.”

Read more: Bela Bill seeks to bring SA’s education system in line with Constitution, say civil society bodies

The DA may have some political cover on the Bela Act because it is not the only group opposing it. It was Solidarity and AfriForum who first wrote to the President asking him to suspend the two clauses. As a result, the DA can both be seen to oppose the clauses and if necessary, show it is willing to compromise, knowing that these two groups will continue to fight against it.

An intriguing aspect of all of these issues is how small a role the eight other parties in the coalition play, which appears to confirm suspicions that this is primarily a coalition between the ANC and the DA and the other parties are there to give the ANC political cover.

Of course, all involved will strongly deny this.

In the meantime, the contestations around these pieces of legislation probably reflect the path the government will take over the next few years. It will be marked by tensions and much back-and-forth — and, hopefully, some compromise. DM