Cabanac: Cautionary tale about becoming roadkill in SA’s cabal of Big Politics, Big Media, Big Lies

After 10 months of silence following Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen’s instruction to make a “dignified exit”, Roman Cabanac has finally started to tell his side of the story. In a fascinating hour of unique insights, the DA Leader’s former Chief of Staff shares first-hand experience of being on the sharp end of the unholy alliance between power mongers in politics and media. Cabanac spoke to BizNews editor Alec Hogg..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..Watch here:.Listen here:.BizNews Reporter.When Roman Cabanac was handpicked by John Steenhuisen to serve as his chief of staff at the newly acquired Ministry of Agriculture, it was a rare moment of promise - an outsider given the opportunity to serve at the heart of government during a historic realignment of South African politics. What followed, however, was not a triumph of reform, but a cautionary tale of betrayal, bureaucracy, and the limits of South Africa’s political imagination.In an exclusive, hour-long conversation with BizNews founder Alec Hogg, Cabanac laid bare the events that led to his abrupt and humiliating ousting from office - just weeks after his appointment. A dual French-South African citizen, lawyer, podcaster, and self-proclaimed political outsider, Cabanac had built a reputation as a fierce and often provocative commentator. But his brush with political power would cost him nearly everything - and leave him deeply disillusioned with the political elites on both sides of the aisle.“I gave up everything”Cabanac’s foray into public service was sudden and dramatic. “I was living a grand life,” he says. “Running three businesses, making good money, director of an NGO. And I gave all of that up when John asked me to be his chief of staff.”It was, he admits, a calculated risk. Cabanac had never joined the Democratic Alliance, never served in its structures, and had voted for it only once. His appointment was a leap of faith - both for him and for Steenhuisen. But the position came with the promise of real impact. “Agriculture is a sector with massive potential for jobs, exports, and growth,” he says. “We had a chance to do something real.”Within weeks, he was coordinating international trips, engaging with the department, and trying to bring private-sector efficiency into the sluggish machinery of the state. His brief stint in China, accompanying the minister on a diplomatic mission, was described by department insiders as a success. Then the storm hit.Collateral damageOn his return from China, Cabanac sensed something had shifted. The media onslaught, focused on a handful of provocative tweets from years past, intensified. Within 48 hours of landing, he received an email from Steenhuisen requesting a “dignified exit.” Two days later, the minister announced publicly that he had asked for Cabanac’s resignation — without ever having had a proper conversation with him.To this day, Cabanac says, he has received no formal explanation. “There was never a disciplinary hearing. I wasn’t even asked to resign. I was just discarded.”Was it pressure from within the DA? From funders? From alliance partners in the GNU? Cabanac has theories - and he intends to test them. “If a political party can determine the future of a government employee without being party to their contract, we have a serious problem,” he says.The double bind of dual citizenshipOfficially, the justification for Cabanac’s dismissal was his French citizenship - a fact, he insists, that was known all along. “My CV said I was born in Paris. I said I spoke French fluently. It was all there. No one ever asked if I was a dual citizen.”He passed security vetting, underwent polygraph tests, completed constitutional and legal exams, and began his work. Only after the political pressure mounted did questions about his nationality emerge. “It felt contrived,” he says. “They needed something to justify my termination, and that was it.”The system isn’t built for outsidersAt the heart of Cabanac’s story is a damning insight: South African politics remains closed to outsiders. “You have to be molded by the party,” he says. “If you're not, you're seen as a threat — not a resource.”This, he argues, explains the stasis in the Government of National Unity. “They say they want reform. They say they want new blood. But when someone from outside the political machine actually comes in and tries to help - the system spits them out.”His experience has shaken his faith in party politics altogether. “I’m disgusted by many of them. Maybe all of them. It's not about the people. It's about the institution. The culture. The obsession with control.”Media capture?Equally concerning is his account of the relationship between mainstream media and political operators. Cabanac describes a “pally-pally,” even “incestuous” relationship between editors and party elites - one where media pressure can be weaponized to shape political outcomes.“I was front page in the Sunday Times four times in six weeks,” he says. “That doesn’t happen to podcasters. That’s not news - that’s a campaign.”He suspects factions within the DA, perhaps unhappy with Steenhuisen’s leadership, may have leaked or manufactured the outrage. Or perhaps it was the ANC, testing the DA’s resolve in the new GNU. “If they blink on the chief of staff, what else will they blink on?” he muses. “I would have used that strategy, too.”Fighting backCabanac is now 38 and says he has no interest in revenge. But he does plan to pursue legal action - not to return to government, but to set a precedent. “I think people have been treated poorly. I think political parties can’t keep getting away with unethical acts. Someone has to stand up to it.”He is back creating content through his new YouTube platform Undercurrents, and spending time with his family. “I’m not trying to save the world. I just enjoy doing this,” he says.Still, the wound is fresh. “I was sacrificed twice,” he says. “Once when I gave up everything to join. And once again when I was thrown under the bus - without due process, without conversation, without dignity.”A final reflectionWhat should South Africans take from this story?That politics is not meritocratic. That reformers are not always welcomed. And that the GNU - billed as a grand experiment in collaboration — may already be hostage to the same political calculations that have stalled South Africa’s progress for decades.“The betrayal,” says Cabanac, “is that for once, someone from the outside tried to help - and the system just wouldn’t allow it.”

Cabanac: Cautionary tale about becoming roadkill in SA’s cabal of Big Politics, Big Media, Big Lies

Related Stories