Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says his party will not, “under any circumstances”, agree to the implementation of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Scheme and clauses 4 and 5 of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill, as he announced key medium-term priorities for the party in the Government of National Unity (GNU).

In marking the GNU’s first 100 days in office, Steenhuisen on Friday spoke to the media in Johannesburg, where he said that parts of the BELA Act, in its current form, would deprive children of mother-tongue education in single medium schools, and that the NHI would bankrupt South Africa “without improving healthcare or health outcomes”.

Despite some public rejection, and concern over the BELA Bill’s constitutionality, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed it into law, however, he placed on hold clauses 4 and 5 of the Bill for three months to find solutions to the concerns around them.

Should no solutions be found, the Bill will be implemented fully, he said.

“We were very clear about BELA, from the beginning of our negotiations, going into the GNU on the Statement of Intent. The reality is, of cause, in a government the ANC needs to understand that it can’t get everything they want and so too the DA understands it cannot get everything that we want, but it cannot be a situation where the DA’s view and opinions must not be taken into consideration and are not accepted,” Steenhuisen said.

He said his party would not form part of a government where clauses of the Constitution would be violated.

“I believe that there are ways for us to find consensus on these issues. But there are issues which we were very clear about going into the negotiations that we said would be non-negotiable for us, as did the ANC, and we have had to respect those and we have had to compromise on those,” Steenhuisen said.

Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube, who did not attend the BELA Bill signing last month, noted the establishment of a technical committee within the GNU, which aims to resolve issues that were “redlined” during negotiations.

She said 10 different parties governing together was not going be easy, noting that the hallmark of the GNU was its ability to resolve conflict.

“…and not all conflict is bad. Ultimately, we have to be mature enough to have this difficult conversation so that we can arrive at a point where we are placing the interest of South Africans first,” she said.

GROWING THE ECONOMY AND JOB CREATION

In laying out the key priorities of the GNU, Steenhuisen said the DA’s priorities would be focused on growing the economy and creating jobs, noting that the party was committed to reducing debt-to-GDP to under 70% by the end of the seventh administration.

He touted a comprehensive spending review in which every programme of government was assessed for impact and those that failed to achieve measurable positive outcomes were cut.

He said this was essential to fund priority commitments such as infrastructure, education, health and security.

The party is also committed to the creation of a competitive energy generation market and significant investment into energy transmission infrastructure in Phase 2 of Operation Vulindlela.

Steenhuisen also noted the need for the immediate concessioning of ports in Cape Town and Richards Bay, and the opening of more terminals in Durban’s port.

He said opening access to freight rail and concessioning the management of the rail network to competent managers, and the creation of a secondary market for broadband, would drive significant investment in the country.

Furthermore, Steenhuisen said digitising Home Affairs, as Minister Leon Schreiber hoped to do, and reforming South Africa’s immigration system to attract remote workers, skilled workers and more tourists, was another priority.

The DA also wants to dramatically expand access to “cheap and reliable” broadband to the poorest South Africans and make smartphones cheaper.

SOE BAILOUTS

Meanwhile, Steenhuisen said bailouts for State-owned enterprises (SOEs) over the past 10 years had resulted in a fiscal crisis.

“Money that should be available for teachers and nurses is now gone. It must stop,” he said.

Furthermore, he stated that the DA would not agree to the Economic Freedom Fighters’ attempt to win support for a Private Member’s Bill to change the ownership structure of the Reserve Bank, which Steenhuisen said would “decimate confidence” in the future of the country’s economy.

He assured that the DA would use its position in Parliament to block any change to the ownership structure of the Reserve Bank.