Africa-Press – South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the Democratic Alliance (DA) was showing “hypocrisy” and what he called “poverty of good principles” by pulling out of the National Dialogue.
Ramaphosa was speaking in Pretoria on Friday during a joint media briefing with his Austrian counterpart, Alexander van der Bellen.
The DA recently announced it would be boycotting the upcoming National Dialogue in protest of Ramaphosa’s decision to fire the party’s Andrew Whitfield as a deputy minister and for not taking action against African National Congress (ANC) ministers embroiled in controversy.
On a day of diplomacy and bilateralism, President Ramaphosa delivered a scathing 10-minute rebuke of the DA’s decision to boycott the National Dialogue.
He said this was against the statement of intent all parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) signed.
“It is rather surprising to hear a leader of the DA saying they never agreed to that in the first place. That is the worst form of hypocrisy I have ever heard.”
Ramaphosa said it did not make sense to him how the DA was using a governance dispute to pull out of the dialogue.
“It really represents the poverty of good principles where a party that stands for inclusivity and democracy in SA then goes against what the people of SA say they wanted.”
In response, DA leader John Steenhuisen said that Ramaphosa’s “intemperate attacks” were inappropriate, especially in front of a visiting head of state.
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