GNU marks opportunity for new ideas, new energy and new resources, says William Gumede

5 Jul 2024

After the 11 parties in the Government of National Unity battled and bargained for positions, President Cyril Ramaphosa finally had a Cabinet. But will it last? And was there a winner?

The formation of a Government of National Unity emerged out of a crisis and was the "best moment" South Africans could have hoped for, according to William Gumede, the founder and executive chairperson of the Democracy Works Foundation.

He was speaking on a panel with Daily Maverick political journalist Queenin Masuabi during a webinar hosted by Daily Maverick senior journalist Rebecca Davis.

https://www.youtube.com/live/9XBugtaNby8?si=V2iS-1VDzUyh9VHP

Gumede, who was the chairperson of the Multi-Party National Convention that led to the now defunct Multi-Party Charter, explained the difficulties of creating a government of national unity, as opposed to a regular coalition. The GNU stemmed from the need for a national effort that would bring in new resources, skills, ideas and energy, said Gumede.

“The idea of a government of national unity is the idea that the government, that a country, is in a crisis and the government is in a crisis, and one party alone cannot deliver.”

Gumede said the ANC’s failure to capture a majority of the votes was a byproduct of recycling ministers and reappointing the same MPs who had failed to deliver.

“From the opposition side, I think there’s opportunity for people who have never been in a national government to bring their energy, bring new ideas and new resources,” Gumede said.

“That’s going to be very, very important. I think after five years we may see a phenomenon where the… partners, non-ANC partners in the GNU are going to deliver better and the ANC ministers are going to deliver poorly.”

Masuabi also noted the positives for South Africans in the formation of the GNU, saying: “We did form a government relatively faster than most countries in the same situation as us who have had to go into coalitions at a national level. So that’s a big win for us."

She pointed out that when it came to key positions in the Cabinet, "the ANC came out on top ... A lot of the decisions were made by the president at the end of the day, with the president being from the ANC.

“The DA (which got just six of the 32 ministerial positions) made a huge compromise to keep the ‘doomsday coalition’ away. The DA did initially want around 12 ministerial posts, and they were brought down significantly,” said Masuabi.

Cronyism

Davis asked Masuabi if cronyism had played a role in the appointment of ministers and deputy ministers. The answer was a resounding yes, but it wasn’t the only deciding factor, said Masuabi. The party also had to answer to its core constituencies.

As for the DA, “Leaders are prioritising those who have backed them politically. And now they are being rewarded for this kind of loyalty,” Masuabi said. “I must say I find it slightly depressing that at the DA’s first taste of power, they have effectively proceeded along very similar lines to the ANC,” Davis said.

She asked: “How likely is it that all the political parties in the GNU are on the same page about its success?”

“I think when it comes to this newly elected Cabinet, there is a bit of optimism and a sense that they want to succeed. But outside, those who are not a part of this could feel otherwise,” said Masuabi.

She said some members of the ANC believed that the wrong decision was made in aligning with the DA over the EFF, a party with a closer history and more similar policies.

“The constitution of this new GNU Cabinet obviously will come with a lot of backlash and turmoil. But largely the issue is that the ANC has, to a large extent, managed to keep the DA away from what people see as our key portfolios,” Masuabi said.

When asked what scope the DA would have for reform, Gumede responded: “I am actually quite optimistic. I think the government of national unity is not perfect, but it really is the best moment we could’ve had for our country.

“Governments only deliver if they’re humbled, if they know they’re going to be out of power, so this is actually the only moment for South Africa that we can see development and genuine attempts to deliver.”

As for the parties outside of the GNU, the EFF and MK had the opportunity to be a strong opposition and increase their chances of garnering more votes in 2029.

“I think that the GNU has its work cut out for itself because the EFF will leave no stone unturned. They are going to be on their case every chance they get. So I see it as a great opportunity. And I think that Julius Malema has realised the EFF’s faults, and the MK party also wants to start showing its visibility. ATM wants to continue being relevant. So I think we should expect a very good opposition,” said Masuabi.

Deputy ministers

To accommodate all the parties in the GNU, Ramaphosa increased the number of ministers and deputy ministers, leading to what some observers called a “bloated” Cabinet — the national executive now consists of 77 members.

Gumede said that having a Cabinet of this size might set the country up for failure as smaller Cabinets had been proven to work better.

“You can actually just draw a graph and look – the bigger the Cabinet, the more failure, so there really is going to be a challenge to turn around this big, unwieldy Cabinet into something… given the fact that comparatively around the world, big Cabinets generally fail.”

Masuabi said some deputy minister positions felt they were merely “ceremonial” and “not needed in Cabinet at all”. However, she said, deputy ministers had varying degrees of power, depending on how much their ministers were willing to give them.

Will it last?

For the GNU to last until 2029, Gumede argued, politicians had to transition to consensus decision-making and away from majority decision-making.

“The thing about consensus (is) it demands much more mature leaders,” Gumede said. To reach a consensus, everyone would have to compromise, he said, even the ANC, which was used to having the majority.

Gumede said the GNU needed to agree on five or six big policy issues for successful governance, and could differ on the rest. The parties needed a mechanism for conflict resolution, and he suggested the addition of a nonpartisan ombudsman.

When asked about possible policy shifts now that the GNU was in place, Gumede said: “Our country is in a crisis. To talk about policy is a bit of a luxury now.”

He said foreign policy might shift, especially towards Israel and Palestine, but if anything, the GNU would push through more moderate policies. DM

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South Africa

Cronyism

Deputy ministers

Will it last?