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Consensus on the best interests of SA will define GNU success

Consensus on the best interests of SA will define GNU success
William Gumede
By William Gumede
16 Jul 2024
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Up to now, the ANC, which has governed South Africa for the past 30 years, based its decisions on majority rule, which is democracy in its most limited form.

The success of South Africa’s new Government of National Unity (GNU) will heavily depend on whether the ANC and other participating party leaders can muster the maturity to adhere to consensus decision-making, rather than majority decision-making or brinkmanship.

Coalitions at local level in South Africa have often failed because dominant parties in multiparty coalitions demand to make decisions, adopt policies and make appointments based on majority rule, rather than consensus.

At the same time, smaller parties, with tiny constituencies, knowing their support is crucial to constitute a governing coalition, often use brinkmanship – threatening to quit a coalition and therefore bringing down a government, to demand outsized concessions for themselves.

A government of national unity model, which tries to bring together a diversity of parties – therefore having different ideologies, ideas, and representing minority groups – is a more inclusive governance approach in societies in crisis, than that of ordinary government coalition agreements between parties.

Ordinary governing coalitions are assembled when no single party wins an outright majority – mostly in normal times. The idea is for the majority party to get enough seats from other parties to achieve a governing majority to form a government. However, GNUs usually involve the inclusion of additional parties, not necessarily required to form a governing majority. The focus of a GNU is to try to get the widest representation of political parties, competence, and ideas into a government – and to galvanise all the energies of society, foster national cohesion and rebuild a country.

GNUs are established when societies face deeply rooted crises, and one single party or group cannot solve these alone, or do not have the electoral mandate to do so on their own. South Africa is facing multiple crises – ranging from a battling economy, high unemployment, mass homelessness and lawlessness to rising tribalism. 

In the current GNU agreement, sufficient consensus will be the basis of decision-making. If there is a deadlock, parties representing 60% of the seats in the National Assembly must agree.

The burden of majority rule


Up to now, the ANC, which has governed South Africa for the past 30 years, based its decisions on majority rule, which is democracy in its most limited form.

In many cases, the majority-rule decisions of the ANC often favoured the party’s, its leadership, or ideological and populist interests rather than the best interests of South Africa.

Most of Africa has been governed under majority rule – the party or leader that wins elections or takes power through a coup makes all decisions, policies and government appointments. Majority rule in Africa, since Liberia became the first independent country on 26 July 1847, has led to failed states, civil wars and mass poverty in Africa.

Consensus decisions – if genuinely taken in the widest public interest, produce better-quality policies, wider societal embrace of decisions and policies and therefore more successful implementation. Consensus-seeking is more likely to produce outcomes that are in the widest interests of all of society, rather than dominant groups. 

In consensus decision-making, not everyone gets all that they want, but common basic agreements are reached which do not harm any of the participants’ interests. In a GNU model, a broad consensus is reached which is in the best interests of all of society, not one political party, colour or ethnic group.

Consensus, rather than majority-rule decisions, has been at the heart of countries that have established inclusive democracies, sustainable development and peaceful societies. Many of the great economic miracles in the post-World War 2 period, whether in Japan, Germany or Scandinavian countries, such as Sweden, have been based on consensus decision-making in politics, economics and wider society.

SA’s best interests


The challenge is that consensus decision-making requires more mature leaders, not leaders prioritising self-enrichment, party interests, populist or ideological obsessions. Importantly, mature political leaders prioritise the best interests of their countries – rarely the same as their own interests, their party’s interests or their ethnic interests. 

However, at the same time, the act of seeking genuine consensus has in itself the ability to inculcate maturity in leaders.

South Africa is a low-trust society because of its conflicted past where diverse groups were violently opposed to one another. High levels of race-based poverty, inequality and unemployment based on past repression of historically disadvantaged communities by colonial and apartheid governments – and the 30 years of entrenching race-based inequalities, poverty and unemployment because of corruption, incompetence and nonsensical policies, combined with the enrichment of a new black elite, and the continued privilege of a white elite, have increased the lack of trust between communities.

However, to lift economic growth, industrialise and build cohesive societies needs elevated levels of trust between groups, ethnic communities and colours. The act of seeking consensus helps groups get to know one another, with parties forced to set aside their prejudices to understand where former adversaries come from. This act of reaching mutual understanding boosts consensus-seeking. 

Finally, it will be critical that tough decisions in the GNU are made, not only based on consensus, but importantly on whether it is in the widest interest of South Africa, not party, colour or group interests. DM

Prof William Gumede, Founder of the Democracy Works Foundation, chaired the negotiations establishing the first pre-election coalition of opposition parties, the Multi-Party Charter (MPC), or “Moonshot Pact”, in South Africa’s modern history. He also co-chaired the South African Local Government Association deliberations which made proposals to the national government for a coalition framework for all government spheres. He was the facilitator of the negotiations to secure agreement between civil society organisations, opposition parties, independent candidates, and the governing ANC over proposals for independent candidates to contest national and provincial elections.

This is an extract from his speech at the recent FW De Klerk Foundation dialogue on inclusive coalition governance. The dialogue was supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

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