Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Geordin Hill-Lewis has rejected criticism of his party’s ministers in national government, alleging instead that they are facing a “relentless campaign” of sabotage from political opponents within state departments.
Speaking after two separate incidents forced ministries to retract decisions — including an AI policy containing fake references and a tender process that saw one publisher awarded an unusually large number of textbook contracts — Hill-Lewis insisted the DA’s ministers are performing well under extraordinarily difficult circumstances.
“The issue is not that mistakes happen or errors happen,” Hill-Lewis said. “The issue is how those things are responded to when they happen. Do you sweep them under the carpet, or do you insist on higher standards?”
The DA leader, who also serves as Mayor of Cape Town, pointed to two recent cases: the communications ministry led by Sulli Malazati was forced to retract a draft AI policy after it emerged some references were “clearly being made up by an AI bot,” while the basic education ministry is reviewing tender decisions after one publishing company was granted a large number of tenders to write textbooks while others were excluded.
Hill-Lewis said he was “actually quite proud” of the ministers for responding properly to “tough and less than ideal” situations.
When asked whether he believed Basic Education Minister’s recent claim that people in her department were sabotaging her, Hill-Lewis responded: “Undoubtedly. There is just a relentless campaign to try to stop and stumble and slow down any meaningful reforms.”
He cited a weekend leak of confidential correspondence from inside the department, which he said did not come from the minister’s office. “All the indications suggest they come from the senior leadership of the actual administration,” he said.
Hill-Lewis acknowledged that future governance problems are inevitable, saying ministers have taken over departments that have suffered “years of neglect, cadre deployment, cronyism, poor leadership” and are “in varying states of being completely defunct and derelict.”
“I would go so far as to say I guarantee you that there will be lots of future examples of governance issues,” he said. “These institutions will take years to rebuild. Literally years.”
Pressed on evidence of sabotage, Hill-Lewis said the proof was “literally on the front pages yesterday morning.” He added that more evidence exists and “will have to be presented to the president sometime soon.”
When asked whether DA ministers are accountable to him or to President Ramaphosa, Hill-Lewis said the coalition agreement clearly gives each party the right to choose its ministers. He said he would judge them on whether they demonstrate that the DA “governs the best in South Africa” and is “unapologetically and undeniably different” from those they are trying to replace.
Asked if he would be “nicer” to ANC ministers, Hill-Lewis replied: “I don’t think so, to be honest. They have an incredible amount to answer for. That organization has an incredible amount to answer for in our country.”