Africa-Press – South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa has cancelled his planned trip to Spain at the eleventh hour in anticipation of a major announcement by GNU partner the DA as the fallout over his axing of deputy minister Andrew Whitfield heightens.
TimesLIVE understands that Ramaphosa has decided to stay in the country in case the DA decides to leave the government of national unity (GNU) on Saturday.
The DA is said to be considering exiting the one-year-old coalition after Ramaphosa this week fired the party’s deputy minister of trade and industry Whitfield without consultation.
The blue party’s federal executive is meeting on Saturday to decide the way forward after giving Ramaphosa 48 hours on Thursday to also fire ministers implicated in corruption, state capture and other forms of wrongdoing.
Ramaphosa said he decided to axe Whitfield after he undertook a trip to the U.S at the height of the diplomatic tensions earlier this year without his authorisation.
Whitfield argued he had asked Ramaphosa for permission to travel and decided to go after not getting a response after 10 days.
The DA has taken a dim view of Ramaphosa’s actions and has given him until 3pm on Saturday to reverse his decision to fire Whitfield.
The DA said it would consider its continued participation in the GNU should he not reverse this decision.
The DA believes Ramaphosa has been ill-treating the party by taking decisions without proper consultations including the signing of several laws.
So aggrieved is the DA over its treatment that the party even voted against the proposed budget to hike VAT – a move that has created even further tensions in the GNU.
Sources with intimate knowledge say Ramaphosa, who was expected to travel to Spain on Friday evening on a commercial flight, decided to miss the trip in case the DA’s federal executive meeting on Saturday morning decides to leave the GNU.
“The president said he is not going any more, just in case the DA does funny things like leaving the GNU,” said a senior government insider.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya on Saturday morning confirmed Ramaphosa had cancelled his trip.
He said Ramaphosa’s decision was informed by the possibility of the DA exiting the GNU.
“Indeed, the president has cancelled his trip to Spain to keep a close eye on developments at home,” said Magwenya.
The DA is expected to hold a press briefing at 3pm to inform the nation what it will be doing going forward after Ramaphosa said he would not meet the party’s 48-hour deadline.
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