Roman Cabanac – the podcaster turned senior civil servant – is still working as Chief of Staff, despite two months ago being told to step down by Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen after a public outcry over controversial statements he had made.
And attempts to get details of what must be a complicated human resources tussle behind the scenes have been met with radio silence. Cabanac’s status is boldly indicated on his X handle, with the profile: “Chief of Staff – Minister of Agriculture. Patriot. Civilisationist.”
Earlier this month, he told Daily Maverick: “The rumours of my resignation have been vastly exaggerated”.
Linda Page, chief director of strategic communications at the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, told Daily Maverick: “The matter of Mr Cabanac is receiving attention, in line with government processes”.
In a response to a parliamentary question dated 17 October, from ActionSA Chief Whip Lerato Ngobeni, Cabanac is listed in his role as Chief of Staff as one of three people attached to Steenhuisen’s ministerial office.
In another parliamentary response, Steenhuisen revealed Cabanac would annually receive R1,436,022 as part of his remuneration package – at the taxpayers’ expense.
When asked if she was surprised that Cabanac was still in office, despite the public pronouncement that he was asked to step down, Ngobeni said: “Absolutely not. Mr Cabanac’s continued employment in the DA leader’s Ministerial Office is a clear indication that Minister Steenhuisen’s remarks at the Cape Town Press Club were merely an attempt to temporarily appease mounting concerns about Mr Cabanac’s unsuitability for the role.”
She added: “It is evident that the Minister aimed to sweep the matter aside, or, as it appears, under the carpet.”.
Previously, Daily Maverick reported labour lawyer Kgomotso Mufamadi as saying it would be difficult to remove Cabanac if he refused to resign, which could force Steenhuisen’s ministry to offer him a golden handshake.
Read more: The process to get rid of Cabanac could drag on for months
Daily Maverick asked the parliamentary oversight committee on agriculture if this issue was brought up and if Steenhuisen would be called before the committee to explain the appointment and be asked to step aside. A response will be added if it is received.
When asked what should happen next, Ngobeni said: “The minister should provide an immediate update on the matter. If, as I suspect, he is deliberately delaying it indefinitely, he must be held accountable for misleading the nation.”
After his appointment, Cabanac immediately courted controversy because of his online presence and commentary on social media platforms and his podcast. Breaking the news of his appointment, City Press described him as “a controversial podcaster and conservative social media activist”.
This launched a flurry of reaction to Cabanac’s appointment: causing consternation from within and outside the Democratic Alliance, of which Steenhuisen is the current leader.
Daily Maverick’s Rebecca Davis wrote that, in his podcast Morning Shot, he has referred to President Cyril Ramaphosa as a “p*es”, called ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula “handicapped”, and referred to Ramaphosa’s spokesperson as “Cyril’s Spokesretard”.
He is also a Trump supporter and pro-Putin. Davis wrote that Cabanac enjoys mocking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and had also tweeted that South Africa could “learn from Viktor Orban”, the Hungarian strongman who has dismantled democracy in that country.
Following the outcry, Steenhuisen told the audience at the Cape Town Press Club on 17 September that he had asked Cabanac to step aside, citing that he found it “far too distracting from the work of my ministry and our government” as Daily Maverick reported.
Read more: Reflective Steenhuisen asks Roman Cabanac to quit after internal DA backlash and public outrage
At that point, Steenhuisen took ‘full responsibility’ for Cabanac’s appointment.
Russia and pushing boundaries
The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change reported in September that Cabanac’s engagements with Russia were not only limited to online postings – he was hosted in May by Rosatom, which is the state-owned Russian nuclear energy company.
Cabanac would later state that some of his online behaviour was “simplistic and controversial”, and acknowledged that it looked unfavourable in his current position, which was non-partisan within the civil service.
Daily Maverick reported that Cabanac said at the time: “In the past, I built my brand as a critic of the previous government. I pushed boundaries to gain attention on social media and sometimes made divisive, idle and poorly considered statements in the heat of online journalism. While some of the criticisms were well-founded, I also admit that others were insensitive and provocative, driven by the desire to debate,”.
Read more: By rewarding Roman Cabanac’s bigotry, Steenhuisen risks the future of the GNU DM