Alan Winde remembers what it was like when the DA took power in the Western Cape for the first time, in 2009. He was appointed MEC for finance in then premier Helen Zille’s cabinet. It was far from easy.
“You walk into an office knowing that the people there were appointed by an ANC administration. You have to manage that,” he says.
Fast-forward 15 years and the DA has stepped into executive positions nationally for the first time. None of the party members who got cabinet posts had any experience in running a national department. While there have been few (known) clashes between the new ministers and the administrators appointed under the ANC, it cannot be easy to enter a machine as large and daunting as the national government.
“It’s about winning the hearts and minds of those you find in your department; you can’t simply fire everyone. Yes, some will not align with you and can’t change, but if you are sincere, most people will be won over,” Winde tells the FM.
His advice to his colleagues is: “Always put wise people around you, those who know more than you. You cannot go wrong if you surround yourself with the best.”
In the first few months of the government of national unity (GNU), DA and ANC ministers have clashed over various issues, the latest being the withdrawal of the SABC Bill from parliament by DA communications minister Solly Malatsi.
His deputy, Mondli Gungubele of the ANC, openly disagreed with the move and cabinet spokesperson and minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni criticised Malatsi, saying it was not his prerogative to withdraw the bill off his own bat; it could only be pulled with the concurrence of the cabinet.
There have been administrative hiccups too. In August DA leader and agriculture minister John Steenhuisen appointed podcaster Roman Cabanac as his chief of staff. After an outcry he asked him to resign — yet Cabanac remains in his post, according to a report in Daily Maverick this week.
Winde is serving his second, final term as premier, having succeeded Zille in 2019.
As the DA’s premier candidate in May, Winde won 55% of the vote in the province, a show of support that he says he is “honoured and privileged” to have received. The run-up to the polls was fraught with uncertainty for the DA over whether it could again secure an outright win in the province. The ANC was banking on its strong pro-Palestinian stance to sway the large Muslim population in the province, and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) was making inroads with its aggressively pro-coloured, nationalist stance.
Our job is to make sure the centre holds
— Alan Winde
Winde’s reflection on the election is instructive. He says he always accepted the possibility that Gayton McKenzie’s PA — which finished third in the Western Cape with 7.84% — could win decisive support with its populist brand of politics.
“Parties such as MK and the PA should be respected. We should not take populism for granted. Look at MK coming from nowhere and taking up so many seats in parliament; they and the EFF should never be taken with a pinch of salt,” he says. “They are big risks.”
This is a key challenge for the GNU.
“Our job is to make sure the centre holds … That the protected arenas for our constitutional democracy like the judiciary, institutions, the media … hold,” says Winde, who took part in the negotiations on the formation of the GNU.
“The benefit of where we are now [in coalition territory] is that no one party holds sway to change the constitution for spurious reasons.”
To ensure that South Africa’s constitutional democracy flourishes, the GNU has to make sure it delivers a perceptible improvement in the lives of ordinary South Africans.
“There must be urgency about growing the economy and creating jobs … citizens must see delivery. This should be at the centre of what every government department is doing.”
Despite a solid mandate in the Western Cape, Winde sees his job as beginning anew, and he is facing some difficult challenges. The province is under pressure: it is the fastest growing in terms of population but faces budget cuts from the National Treasury — it is the third most populous province after Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, but ranks fifth in the Treasury’s provincial allocations.
While the constitution has to be protected, Winde believes a democracy is always evolving and there should be room for amendments to empower various spheres of government to intervene where another sphere is failing. He also believes the time allowed to choose a president after election results are declared — 14 days — is too short, especially if coalition negotiations are involved, and should be extended to at least 100 days.
Winde is mum on plans for his post-premier career. Given the coalition territory South Africa has entered — and the dynamics in the DA, which will have its elective conference in 2026 — it will be interesting to see what they are.
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