Assessing the DA's political strategy and principles

WHEN DA leader John Steenhuisen issued his blunt ultimatum to ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa, in the wake of the axing of the DA's Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Andrew Whitfield over an unauthorised trip, I thought the party would make its last stand exit-ing the Government of National Unity (GNU) altogether.

- SISEKO MAPOSA

Prior to this clash, there had already been multiple concessions (Budget negotiations, Expropriation Act, BELA Act, NHI Act, and Employment Equity) where, in hindsight, the DA ended up with the short end of the stick.

Now, the fact that the DA chooses to function as a de facto opposition within a coalition smacks either of patriotic self-sacrifice or sheer inability to outmanoeuvre the ANC.

Rather than exiting, the DA unveiled a watered-down playbook, narrowly focused on pressuring Ramaphosa to remove ANC ministers accused of corruption or gross mismanagement.

To pull this off, the DA declared it would withhold support for Ramaphosa's National Dialogue, dismissing it as an ANC scheme to divert state funds for its 2026 municipal election campaign, and refuse to back budgets for departments led by allegedly corrupt ANC ministers. Yet this strategy has trapped the DA in political no-man's land their actions now scream of power-hungry compromise, not principle. If we appreciate the counterfactual, then the DA's playbook raises troubling questions that can't be ignored.