Ramaphosa Tired Of DA As Hill-Lewis Bypassed ANC Leaders For Direct Talks — GNU Tensions Boil

Cracks inside South Africa’s Government of National Unity widened sharply this week when President Cyril Ramaphosa grew visibly frustrated with Democratic Alliance conduct, sources close to Pretoria’s corridors of power revealed on Friday. The tension centres on two distinct grievances that have reportedly pushed the relationship between the ANC and DA toward a dangerous boiling point. Neither party has publicly acknowledged the dispute. Yet insiders say the mood at Luthuli House is anything but calm.

According to multiple political sources, DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis allegedly sought direct access to Ramaphosa while deliberately sidestepping senior African National Congress officials who would ordinarily manage such engagements. That manoeuvre infuriated the President, who reportedly viewed it as a calculated attempt to marginalise the broader ANC leadership structure. Beyond the protocol breach, Ramaphosa has also reportedly complained that the DA consistently dismisses established ANC governance frameworks as inferior, treating them with open contempt rather than coalition-appropriate respect.

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya had not responded to detailed questions by the time of publication. The DA’s national communications team similarly offered no official comment when approached for a reaction. ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula’s office acknowledged receiving the inquiry but declined to issue any statement on internal GNU deliberations, describing the matter as “sensitive ongoing engagement between principals.”

The GNU was forged after the May 2024 general elections, when the ANC secured only 40 percent of the national vote — its lowest result since democracy arrived in 1994. That dramatic decline forced Ramaphosa’s party into an uncomfortable power-sharing arrangement with ten smaller formations, including the DA, which commands roughly 22 percent of parliamentary seats. Tensions over budget priorities, land reform, and state-owned enterprise policy have simmered throughout the arrangement.

One veteran ANC parliamentarian, speaking anonymously near Parliament’s basement cafeteria on Thursday afternoon, stirred cold coffee slowly and stared at the floor before saying quietly: “The old man is tired. Not of governing — of being undermined inside his own house by people who think they won.”

What remains unanswered is whether Ramaphosa will convert private irritation into formal GNU restructuring, or whether this dispute quietly dissolves like so many before it. Five million South Africans who voted for stability are watching. Will the coalition survive its own architects.