They say there’s no publicity, which is bad publicity, and nobody believes that is better than the Democratic Alliance. Since the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU) in June, the DA’s ministers and deputy ministers have been on a self-congratulatory media tour, announcing every little victory, real or perceived.

The DA has a strong presence in the GNU, with six ministers and six deputy ministers. 

The Patriotic Alliance’s number one, Gayton McKenzie, made it to the cabinet, securing the Sports, Arts, and Culture department.

In July, a report emerged that some African National Congress (ANC) ministers had complained that opposition ministers were “making them look bad.” The complaints were raised at an ANC National Working Committee (NWC) meeting, where some ANC ministers revealed that they were even scared to speak to the media. The ANC has, however, denied this, saying, “There was no such a discussion precisely because there is no such outperformance of the ANC by anybody.” Columnist Barney Mthombeni said that a bit of competition could be what the ANC needs to mend their ways. “It could be the shot in the arm the ANC sorely needs and could be an antidote to the lethargy that has brought the country to such a pretty pass,” he said.

Let’s take a look at three times non-ANC GNU ministers announced initiatives that make the ANC look bad:

🔹 Hearing “the system is offline” at Home Affairs is set to be a thing of the past if Leon Schrieber has his way. The department announced in August that it had cleared over 50% of its 306,000 visa and permit applications backlog. “Defeating this backlog, which has been accumulating since 2014, is a sign of DA commitment in National Government to fostering skills-immigration and investment,” said DA national spokesperson Willie Aucamp. Schrieber is also pushing for the digitisation of his department. “I believe that if we can demonstrate that even a department as maligned as Home Affairs can work and even thrive,” he says. “And the key to making that happen lies in embracing digital transformation.”

🔹 Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie is perpetually online. Sometimes, we wonder how he manages to be in so many places at once. On 4 September, McKenzie and Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will establish a collaborative framework between the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture to implement extracurricular programmes, including school sports programmes, throughout the country. McKenzie expressed his excitement, saying that the programme was “an important first step in the right direction for us,” McKenzie has also committed to Project 300, an undertaking by him that 300 athletes will be at the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles to represent South Africa.

🔹 In August, Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Dean Macpherson and Kwa-Zulu Natal MEC Martin Meyer announced plans for an urgent meeting to address the construction mafia crisis nationwide. Macpherson stated, “I vowed to deal decisively with the construction mafia and restore the rule of law at construction sites.”

The decision follows a report from Meyer on the resurgence of mafia activities in KZN. Macpherson added, “We will never attract infrastructure investment while this lawlessness continues,” citing a recent incident where three people were killed and one assaulted due to mafia involvement.

To the ANC’s credit, they seem to be getting their act together. Well, at least the Minister of Police, Senzo Mchunu, is. He has been travelling the country dealing with communities affected by extortion gangs. “Most of them are individuals who do not want to work but rather choose to parade as armies of murderous parasites that must be fought and rejected by society as a whole,” he told Parliament on Tuesday, 3 September, during an urgent National Assembly debate on the rise of extortion crimes gripping the country.

Maybe politicians one-upping each other is precisely what Mzansi needed to work. We’re quite a competitive country. Let’s hope that this isn’t just GNU steam that’ll run out by the next election.