The ANC and ActionSA on Monday issued separate statements calling for an investigation into the allegations made recently by former DA leader John Steenhuisen after he was removed as Minister of Agriculture.

The ANC stated that after years of the DA associating corruption with a black-led government, a former DA leader was making allegations against those in his own party, while ActionSA likened Steenhuisen’s allegations to State capture.

Over the weekend, Steenhuisen alleged that former DA leader Tony Leon and former DA CEO Paul Boughey’s communications firm Resolve Communications drove a negative narrative around the foot-and-mouth disease vaccination campaign against him.

Additionally, he claimed that the firm had used its proximity to the party to get DA Ministers to meet with its clients, which Steenhuisen said he had raised as an issue internally in the DA.

“These allegations raise important questions about ethical governance, accountability and the assault on the integrity of democratic institutions. These are matters that deserve to be addressed openly and transparently in the interests of maintaining public confidence in government,” the ANC said.

ActionSA, meanwhile, urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to institute investigations into Steenhuisen’s allegations, refer the matter to the Public Service Commission to determine whether standards of ethical governance and executive administration were compromised, and request that the Public Protector investigate whether any GNU Ministers breached the Executive Ethics Code.

“Reeking of textbook State capture, these allegations raise serious questions about the integrity of the Executive and whether politically connected commercial interests were afforded privileged access to [Government of National Unity] Ministers entrusted with exercising public power solely in the national interest. To that end, the President cannot remain silent,” the party said.

It added that if the allegations are not true, they should be publicly disproved.

“Lobbying is not inherently improper. Businesses, civil society organisations and industry bodies engage and lobby government every day. However, where lobbying is undertaken by firms led by former senior political office-bearers with close personal and political relationships to serving Ministers, transparency is not optional, it is indispensable to preserving public confidence in the integrity of government," ActionSA said.

Meanwhile, the ANC also took aim at the DA for projecting administrations under its control as inherently more ethical and accountable, describing it as a “selective political narrative”.

The ANC also called for an independent investigation into Steenhuisen’s allegations, saying there cannot be separate standards for black-led organisations and another for the DA.