(Graphics: Christine Oelofse/Maroela Media)
If you ask Geordin Hill-Lewis, the DA’s leader, he will tell you his recent criticism of Dr. Pieter Groenewald, the FF Plus’ cabinet minister, is “nothing personal”.
It is about the fact that the Department of Correctional Services (DKD) simply does not know where thousands of convicted and possibly dangerous criminals are after they have been released on parole, Hill-Lewis explains to Maroela Media.
If you ask Groenewald, he will tell you that Hill-Lewis’s criticism of him as minister of correctional services is not so much about the deserters. Groenewald thinks it’s pure politics.
“Cheap politics.
“The DA probably have their motives as to why they want to try to get to me. They are welcome. I am not hiding anything.
“But Geordin Hill-Lewis must, with all due respect, realize that I am no longer the leader of the FF Plus,” Groenewald said when Maroela Media asked him about the recent criticism.
Because you see, the DA and the FF Plus are targeting the same voter group in the run-up to this year’s municipal elections. The FF Plus can also grow nowhere else than with DA voters.
Dr. Pieter Groenewald (Photo: Reint Dykema)
‘Friction has been a long time coming’
“It’s about the white vote and more specifically the Afrikaner vote,” says Prof. André Duvenhage, political analyst attached to the North-West University (NWU).
“It is very clear that the DA realizes they are in trouble as far as this vote is concerned. There are indications that the FF Plus has a certain momentum. This creates and increases the tension.”
Duvenhage believes that there has been friction between the two parties for some time – long before Hill-Lewis held Groenewald responsible for the missing parolees and long before John Steenhuisen for dr. Pieter Mulder, former FF Plus leader and a former deputy minister of agriculture, blamed for the foot-and-mouth crisis.
“It has been building up for some time, even from before the 2024 general election,” explains Duvenhage, referring to the DA and the FF Plus on Oudtshoorn, Swellendam and Theewaterskloof in 2024.
However, Hill-Lewis’s criticism of the FF Plus’s minister does not at all excuse the FF Plus, which itself also sometimes gets in the way.
“The DA is sitting with an election machine that is incredibly strong,” says Duvenhage.
He believes that the FF Plus will therefore have to drastically renew itself in order to lure voters away from the DA and increase its support. “I don’t think it’s impossible, but their attack and identification of leaders will have to be drastically reduced.”
Having said that, the FF Plus and the DA are two diverse parties with different styles and methods, explains Duvenhage, while the electoral system – which is primarily proportional – is of such a nature that each party wants to ensure maximum support before an election.
“This naturally brings parties into conflict with each other,” says Duvenhage.
However, this complicates matters before an election as far as the FF Plus and DA are concerned, as the two parties like to (and work well) together after an election.
Geordin Hill-Lewis, federal leader of the DA. (Photo: DA/X)
‘FF Plus can only grow at the expense of DA’
The FF Plus and the DA have worked well together in many cases. Cilliers Brink, the DA’s mayoral candidate in Tshwane, testifies to that.
“The DA and the FF Plus worked well together in Pretoria, even when the FF Plus in the Western Cape teamed up with the ANC to vote out the DA mayors of Oudtshoorn, Swellendam and Theewaterskloof.
“When ActionSA turned against me, the FF Plus supported me and I will not forget that,” Brink told Maroela Media when asked.
“I am (yes) somewhat concerned that Mulder, the FF Plus’ former Western Cape leader, is now the FF Plus’ national leader (given the then conflict between the DA and FF Plus in the Western Cape).
“But I believe that we can continue to work together here in Pretoria.”
Cilliers Brink and some of his former coalition partners including Grandi Theunissen of the FF Plus. (Photo: DA)
In a recent entry on Facebook, Brink does not shy away from the fact that some voters prefer the FF Plus over the DA. “I accept that there is a group of Afrikaners who will never vote for the DA, and that the FF Plus offers them a natural home. I would rather have them vote for the FF Plus than stay away.”
“However, I also know that the FF Plus can only grow at the expense of the DA,” writes Brink in response to Dr. Corné Mulder, current FF Plus leader,’s view that the DA should stop criticizing the FF Plus.
“They will not gather votes or win in ANC wards, and therefore they cannot essentially change the balance of power in politics. So when Mulder becomes petty about the DA’s criticism of their cabinet minister – while they treat the DA as their main opponent, as it were – then I recommend a pinch of salt,” writes Brink.
Regarding Hill-Lewis’ criticism about the missing parolees, Brink meanwhile told Maroela Media: “This is a serious issue.”
According to Brink, Hill-Lewis did not at all try to blame Groenewald for the situation.
“(He) did say that he had to take responsibility for correcting the situation. As mayor of Tshwane in 2023, I did not cause the outbreak of cholera, but I had to take responsibility for a solution.”
Cilliers Brink and Geordin Hill-Lewis. (Photo: Tania Heyns/Maroela Media)
‘What did he want me to do?’
Hill-Lewis pointed out at a DA registration rally over the weekend that Groenewald had known about the missing parolees for two years and had not told the public about it.
“You see, FF Plus cannot pretend to be a party of law and order while its own minister continues a parole system that has lost sight of thousands of violent offenders,” said Hill-Lewis.
In the meantime, Groenewald confirmed to Maroela Media that he has known about the missing parolees for almost two years.
“Yes, I am aware of that. The question is: What did he want me to do? Do I now have to report to South Africa monthly, weekly?”
Groenewald says that he would be happy to provide the figures, if asked. “I have the figures. But do I now have to hold a media conference every day to provide them?
“The question is: Did we do something? And we did,” says Groenewald.
Dr. Pieter Groenewald (Photo: VF Plus/X)
He says that the large number of missing parolees has been around since 1991. He then also points out that his department with him at the helm as minister has meanwhile tracked down more than 2,500 of them.
When Groenewald came to power in July 2024, the number of missing parolees stood at 31,162. This figure currently stands at 29,320. “In the almost two years that I have been the minister, we have tracked down 2,549 parolees who have run away.”
Groenewald therefore thinks Hill-Lewis is not justified in confronting him about it.
He says that if he wanted to get political, he would blame Leon Schreiber, the DA’s cabinet minister for the interior, for the large number of illegal immigrants in South Africa and blame him for not saying every day how many illegal immigrants there are in South Africa.
“So I really think it’s a bit petty, childish politics,” says Groenewald about Hill-Lewis’s criticism. “Seems to me they get tense and nervous.”
