Good party leader Patricia de Lille says that after working with the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) for almost 15 years, she knows that “the best of all of us, whether you are ANC, DA or Good … put our people first”.
De Lille was speaking shortly before being sworn in as tourism minister on Wednesday at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
De Lille’s Good party is one of 11 parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU). During the previous administration, De Lille was the only opposition member in the executive.
The Good party has only one seat in the National Assembly after receiving 65,814 (0.18%) of the valid votes cast in the 29 May general election.
When asked about the GNU, De Lille said “We’ve got the experience of coalitions in some municipalities. Some of them with the DA, some of them with the ANC … I’ve worked with the DA for over eight years and the ANC for five years.”
The party has worked with the DA and the ANC at the local level since the 2021 local government elections, either to pass budgets, solve council impasses or in a coalition partnership such as Theewaterskloof in the Western Cape.
De Lille split from the Democratic Alliance in 2018 after a protracted public spat. The current DA leader, John Steenhuisen, was, at the time, tasked with producing a committee report into allegations about the DA caucus, which De Lille led.
De Lille formed the Good party early in 2019, just in time to contest that year’s general election. Her party gained two seats in Parliament and she was appointed as public works and infrastructure minister.
In 2023, De Lille said her party would not join the DA-led Multi-Party Charter, or “Moonshot Pact”, saying, “The forces of the right are consolidating, including the makers and beneficiaries of apartheid, under the auspices of a Moonshot Charter. We cannot let the enemies of progress retake the reins of power.”
Three of the now-defunct charter’s members - the DA, Freedom Front Plus and Inkatha Freedom Party - are part of this GNU.
Back at tourism ministry
De Lille’s reappointment as tourism minister was welcomed by the CEO of the Southern Africa Tourism Services Association, David Frost.
“Minister De Lille’s reappointment is excellent news for the tourism sector,” said Frost.
“Her leadership has been instrumental in navigating our industry through challenging times and we’re excited about the prospects of building on this solid foundation.”
De Lille said she had “worked very hard to make sure that the public sector and the private sector work together”.
She said her next steps would be working with Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber to tackle the visa backlog issue, particularly in markets such as Nigeria, China and India.