ANC MPs turned a parliamentary meeting on Correctional Services’ disastrous audit outcome into a political interrogation of Minister Pieter Groenewald.
On Tuesday, 13 October the MPs repeatedly challenged his leadership, questioning his future in Cabinet and demanding answers in an increasingly hostile exchange.
But Groenewald refused to be cornered. He accused his interrogators of dragging politics into the proceedings, challenged their questions head-on and reminded them that his ministerial future rested with President Cyril Ramaphosa, not the ANC MPs confronting him.
When ANC MP Mzwanele Major Sokopo asked whether Groenewald would still be minister next year, the minister turned the question back on him, suggesting the MP might know something about plans to remove him.
“Honourable Sokopo, maybe you can tell me because you’re a member of the ANC. I don’t know in which structures you serve. Maybe there was a discussion in the ANC structures to replace me as a minister,” he said.
He made it clear that his position was not for the ANC to decide.
“I am in this position, and it is the prerogative of the President, Mr Cyril Ramaphosa. If Mr Cyril Ramaphosa phones me this afternoon and says I am not the minister anymore, then I am not the minister. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
Then he turned the interrogation back on Sokopo.
“Maybe you know something. Maybe I should ask you, do you think that I will still be the minister next year?” he asked Sokopo.
The exchange escalated as Groenewald linked his political future to the ANC’s December 2027 elective conference, warning that his Freedom Front Plus could walk away from the government of national unity if the ANC abandoned its current partners for the uMkhonto weSizwe party and the EFF.
“We all know that Mr Cyril Ramaphosa won’t avail himself as president of the ANC,” Groenewald said.
“I think that Mr Ramaphosa will come forward with an argument to the ANC to say, give me a chance to complete my term, the second term and the last term as president of South Africa,” he continued.
He then delivered a blunt warning about the GNU’s future.
“If the ANC decides after December next year that it is not going into a coalition with the present parties who are part of the government of national unity, and it goes into a coalition with the MK party and the EFF, I predict that my political party, the Freedom Front Plus, will say then we are not part of the government anymore,” he said.
Groenewald rejected any suggestion that his party had entered the GNU simply to secure Cabinet positions.
“We said yes, we will sign the memorandum of understanding, but I put it very clearly that we are not interested in executive positions. I have it in writing. I have it with the signatures of the members of the ANC who attended the meeting,” he explained.
The political detour prompted committee chairperson Kgomotso Ramolobeng, an ANC MP, to intervene.
“We don’t want to know how you got to the GNU. Respond to it, and you’ve started well. So let’s not degenerate the meeting,” she said.
“That will happen after elections. Let’s stick to the issue at hand,” she said.
But Groenewald refused to accept that his answer was irrelevant.
“These are facts that have relevance to the question whether I see myself still as minister,” he said.
Sokopo subsequently insisted that the minister had misunderstood his question, explaining that he wanted to establish whether there would be continuity in the department.
Groenewald was having none of it.
“I understand that the moment you move in the political field, sometimes you have to deal with inconvenient truth and people don’t like it.”
Sokopo later accused the minister of using parliamentary time to air his party’s political position instead of answering the question.
“He chose to discuss internal ANC processes, including the party’s conference next year. That was unnecessary for this meeting.
“I believe he used the portfolio committee’s meeting time to address the nation on his political party’s position on the government of national unity. That is an executive matter that he can discuss with the President in the appropriate forum,” Sokopo said.
Groenewald challenged Sokopo to put his question in writing, arguing that its wording carried an implication the MP had not explained.
“The word ‘still’ suggests that you foresee the possibility that I may no longer be the minister,” he said.
The political sparring was not confined to Groenewald’s future in Cabinet.
ANC MP Erald Alzano Cloete also launched a direct attack on the minister over the department’s disclaimer audit opinion, demanding that Groenewald take personal responsibility for the financial governance failures under his leadership.
“As the African National Congress, we express our profound disappointment and anger. Parliament is not here to rubber-stamp departmental explanations,” Cloete said.
“Under Minister Groenewald’s political leadership, this deterioration requires direct and public accountability.
“Are you satisfied that this is becoming the defining financial governance legacy of your tenure? What responsibility will you personally take for reversing it?” he asked.
Groenewald responded by accusing Cloete of bringing politics into the department’s oversight proceedings.
“You should know better. I said many times, let’s keep politics out of correctional services. But if you are putting political issues on the table, I will not run away. I will deal with it,” Groenewald said.
He then challenged the premise of Cloete’s question.
“Do you really think that I, as a minister will be satisfied with a disclaimer?” he asked.
The minister’s combative approach did not sit well with ANC MP Mogodu Samuel Moela, who complained about the tone of his responses.
“I feel that the minister sometimes responds harshly. At one point, he even said, ‘That will be your own opinion,’ which I do not consider an appropriate response,” Moela said.
Groenewald also clashed with Ramolobeng over a September statement concerning the suspension of four officials linked to a R1.6 billion coal tender.
Ramolobeng said the statement appeared to suggest that Groenewald himself had suspended the officials.
However, the minister told MPs that the power to suspend officials rested with the national commissioner.
“I want us to establish clearly who made the decision so that we do not issue communications to the public that could be misleading and then present a different account to the portfolio committee,” she said.
Groenewald questioned why the issue had been raised at the meeting rather than when the statement was first published.
“I do not understand why this was a problem. If there was an issue, why was there no request to obtain the media statement at the time? Why wait until this meeting to request it?” he asked.
He also disputed the distinction being drawn between senior officials and senior management.
“Assistant directors are also senior officials. They are not senior management, but they are senior officials,” he said.
Then he challenged Ramolobeng to read the statement aloud, insisting that its wording supported his position.
“Perhaps you should read it so that the other members can also hear the truth. Is it correct that I referred to senior officials?”
Ramolobeng declined to read it.
“Honourable Minister, please proceed with the questions you are responding to,” she said.
The clashes continued over the previous week’s briefing by the Auditor-General, with Groenewald disputing Ramolobeng’s account of the department’s participation.
He said departmental representatives had attended the meeting but had not been given an opportunity to respond.
“There is a difference between being present at a meeting and being allowed to respond,” he said.
Ramolobeng rejected his account.
“It is not correct to say that the department was excluded,” she said.
She also put the central question of accountability directly to the minister.
“Is this the standard of governance you are prepared to accept under your leadership?”
The exchanges exposed the growing tension between Groenewald and ANC members of the committee.
The department’s disclaimer audit opinion remains the substantive issue facing the committee.
Groenewald’s defiance does not resolve those failures, just as the ANC’s criticism does not, by itself, establish that the minister is personally responsible for every financial irregularity.
But on Tuesday, Groenewald made one thing clear: he would not quietly accept political attacks, and he was prepared to turn the questions back on those asking them.