The dye is cast – the ANC and the DA have ushered a Government of National Unity (GNU) for which there was no imperative, together with other smaller parties. For the ANC, this is simply a marriage of convenience to avoid the exposure of its president from the MKP and EFF for the Marikana massacre and the Phala-Phala saga. The other ANC parliamentarians are there for the job and cover to avoid the Zondo State Capture Report processes. It remains to be seen whether the tripartite alliance partners, the COSATU and the SACP, are agreeable to this alliance. Their silence is resounding.
The conventional indicators are, as they should be, seemingly positive – the rand is stronger, and the institutions enthroned with crowning “good” or “bad” governments – the Brenthurst Foundation, IMF, WB – are probably positive about this. If the funding of political parties is anything to go by, then Brenthurst group has outdone itself in neutering the ANC. They did not need any help as the ANC ran the country to the ground – the high unemployment, the growing poverty, the persistent crime, the goring of the SOEs, the increasing cost of living, and downright arrogance towards its traditional constituency.
However, many voters are shocked and are apprehensive about this ANC-DA marriage of convenience because they cannot see the road ahead. The ANC is mum on any principles, policies supporting this union which is not based on any principles. If one considers that the campaign ticket for the ANC was renewal/Thumamina as well as its flagship issues – Palestine, BRICS, anticorruption, NHI, then it cannot hope that the DA will assist it. Probably this marriage will ultimately result in the ANC losing relevance and dying a slow death. Perchance it might mutate to another right wing party while losing some of its membership who will go back to the traditional black liberation homes. Undoubtedly, the DA will obliterate any vestige of a black liberation efforts such as free education, NHI, affirmative action, BEE, etc. Notably, the silence of the ANC old guard/veterans is resounding!
Although the voters did not necessarily anticipate this outcome, they voted the ANC out of majoritarian power to force it to share power because it has failed to deliver on its promises and instead engaged in deleterious activities. Consequently, both the ANC – a previously sworn enemy of the “apartheid” DA – and the DA – a “swart gevaar” hoodoo of the ANC – have found themselves at the unavoidable political intersection.
In addition, although the voters may have reduced the majoritarian power of the ANC, they probably did not want the ANC to cross over and get into an alliance with the DA. Most downtrodden black people are aware of the economic power of the whites as a group. Consequently, the idea of the ANC getting into bed with the DA is confounding.
The only reason for the ANC getting into this arrangement is to try to avoid being rendered an opposition party given that it cannot form a majoritarian coalition with the MKP which in any event it looks like because it has protected errant politicians at the cost of the law and order. On the other hand, the DA is tired of howling down the ANC as an official opposition and wants part of the action. Unfortunately, this is purely a matter of convenience – there is nothing that the parties share that derives from any principles.
The ANC’s history has been that of fighting against colonialism, settler colonialism, racial segregation, economic marginalization, and apartheid. In that endeavour, it followed various principles that emerged out of its intellectual tradition. These processes fed and enriched its political decision-making and improved its political choices. Thus, the ANC relied on various intellectual alliances with the Unity Movement, the SACP, the Indian Congress. On the ground it collaborated with the United Democratic Movement and other such groupings. It leveraged on these relationships and ideas to broaden its thinking and decision-making. The infusion of the Black Consciousness Movement cadre in the mid-1970’s invigorated and strengthened its waning intellectual arsenal.
From these alliances the ANC developed and embedded democratic tradition that allowed the sharing and enrichment of ideas and the strengthening of vision, ideology, policies, principles and its programme of action. However, with the removal of Mandela from the Robben Island and his placement at Victor Verster and subsequent engagement of the ANC by the Apartheid government, both the intellectual vibrancy and the democratic processes seem to have been undermined for the convenience to negotiate leading to CODESA and ultimately the GNU of 1993. It would seem the mass movement was ready for an outright victory of having the apartheid government concede power rather than entering a negotiated settlement. Although the circumstances were not the same, the victories of Angola, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe were attractive to the South African oppressed masses. The death of Chris Hani is a critical factor to these outcomes.
On the other hand, the DA is a product of colonialism, racial segregation and apartheid as well as the white lager. It is a remnant settler colonialism and hangs on economic strangulation of the black majority through the support of those who control of key national assets such as land, financial institutions and critical business institutions. It has sought and has ably protected and preserved white privilege particularly in economic terms through the preservation of land ownership.
Thus, given these frames, the ANC and the DA are foundationally, experientially, politically, programmatically inherent foes. This makes the GNU a farce and a betrayal train for the ANC. In fact, the ANC went begging for a marriage to the DA, if only to preserve an appearance of political authority/leadership and control. The DA had nothing to lose being an opposition party. Ultimately, the ANC will pay a heavy price for this and in the real sense for its own consistent pattern of behaviour which has shunned intellectual thought as a guide to informing its strategies and political choices.
Clearly, the ANC has been consistent – it killed intellectual vibrancy in the early 2000s and abrogated whatever were democratic processes it had embraced. The tripartite alliance complained bitterly about this prior to the recall of former President Thabo Mbeki. This confusion led to the election of former President Jacob Zuma as president of the ANC and the country. However, the ANC bemoans this as “nine wasted years”. How could this be so when ANC made Zuma, knew him and elected him to lead the country? Therefore, something in the ANC was faulty. It was thought that it would probably be corrected by electing President Cyril Ramaphosa. It made him and knew him very well. Unfortunately, he has not achieved much since he took the reigns.
These two key driving partners of the GNU are diametrically opposed historically, ideologically and politically – at least on the books. The DA is not going to entertain the ANC to introspect on how it got off its liberation agenda tracks. Instead, the Brenthurst group will ensure that the DA and white monopoly capital agenda takes stage. If history is anything to go by, the ugly head of group protectionism and big egos will rise again. When tested against the parallel lines of these groups the wheels to this GNU wagon will come off.
By all indications, we are headed for social unrest and political instability! The IFP and the DA will be in one corner, the EFF and the MKP will be in another, while the ANC will be isolated and looking for partners.
