DA leader Steenhuisen commits to GNU despite policy differences

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has assured South Africans that the party will remain part of the Government of National Unity (GNU) despite differences in opinions on the implementation of recent Acts.

Steenhuisen briefed the media in Cape Town ahead of the State of the Nation Address on Thursday.

Over the past few months, the DA has been critical of the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The party says they haven’t felt their views were taken seriously when signing off on significant pieces of legislation, most recently the Expropriation Act.

“So we must understand that we will not always get our way on policy issues that South Africa desperately needs to get our country moving. However, you can be assured that the Democratic Alliance (DA) continues to fight every single day within cabinet, within the cabinet committees, and within the corridors of power, to fight for the reform agenda, to generate economic growth and create jobs.”

DA’s address ahead of SONA 2025:

‘Invest in communities’

Steenhuisen says South Africa needs to re-address economic empowerment in the country to deal with the current levels of unemployment. He says, amongst others, businesses need to invest in the communities they operate in…

” Sadly, the current approach, no matter how well-intentioned, has favoured the political elite at the expense of the vast majority of South Africans who remain languishing in poverty unemployment, and hunger. This requires an alternative mode of redress, which moves away from direct ownership solely and allows businesses to invest in the communities they operate in, and thereby opening up opportunities for smaller businesses to plug into those value chains. the reality is that unemployment is our number one biggest challenge facing South Africa.”

‘Fiscal discipline’

The DA leader has called for greater fiscal discipline when tackling government debt. He adds that they consulted with President Cyril Ramaphosa and hope their concerns are taken into account.

“We have compelled the president to announce reforms during a State of the Nation Address and we want to see these things within the SONA. We believe that we need greater fiscal discipline and debt management. The money we have to spend paying for our debt as a country is reducing and crowding out the money that we need for the essential services and currently consumes a full 21% of the budget.”