Here’s hoping that the government of national unity will put SA before individual egos

Dear DM168 reader,

We did it—those of us who voted. We got the politicians to put on their thinking caps and take their gloves off. We are going to be governed by a government of national unity (GNU) that has the ANC and DA as anchor partners and that is open to participation by other parties who abide by a set of very clear and progressive conditions outlined in a document signed by ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and DA Chairperson of the Federal Council Helen Zille.

The flip-flopping coalition circus was in town after the last vote was counted, but it seems we have a clear idea now of the course we will be following.

Remember during the shouty electioneering season how John Steenhuisen, leader of the official opposition DA, went on and on about how his moonshot pact or Multi-Party Charter (MPC) would oust the ANC “Doomsday Coalition” of the ANC and EFF?

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yt6Ib35L-4[/embed]

Well, that didn’t go as planned, with the MPC not garnering enough votes to run the government as Jacob Zuma’s MK party, magicked since 16 December, won double the percentage (14.66%) of all the DA’s chums in the MPC put together, who earned a measly 7.1% of the vote.

Right up until the morning of Friday, 14 June the DA negotiators spent hours hammering out their role in the ANC’s GNU.

Then we had the ANC naysayers like Zweli Mkhize and Lindiwe Sisulu who argued against the ANC forming a coalition that would be against the will of many black voters who "believe that the DA is contemptuous of the needs of black peoples and represents beneficiaries of apartheid and reconciliation".

Don’t get me wrong. Changing minds is a good thing when it comes from a better understanding or when it’s for a constructive purpose such as getting off your high horse to compromise for the common good of every citizen in the country.

I am hopeful that the ANC, who earned the most votes at 40.18%, has come to its senses and is putting the needs of South Africans before the greed of individual party members (well, those in the ANC who are not intent on following Zuma’s anti-constitutional path to hell). President Cyril Ramaphosa was dignified in his acceptance of his party's loss of a majority at the IEC and has displayed his strength as an inclusive leader, a trait honed as a union negotiator and in the negotiations at Codesa that ended apartheid and heralded our constitutional democracy.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnmUk57nH9E[/embed]

And reading Steenhuisen’s speech about the DA participating in a GNU, it seems like the blue party is also putting the country before individual egos.

Following the signing of an agreement by the leaders of the DA, the IFP and the ANC, the three parties enter national government, as well as provincial government in the provinces of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

Sounding very statesmanlike, Steenhuisen explained that: “At the heart of this GNU statement is a shared respect for, and defence of, our Constitution and the rule of law, including the Bill of Rights – in its entirety. It is a document that is realistic about the need for mechanisms to deal with the disagreements that will inevitably arise in a multiparty government, adopting the threshold of ‘sufficient consensus’ that served our country well during the Codesa negotiations.”

The GNU parties agreed to:

•  rapid economic growth and job creation;


•  tackling poverty and the high cost of living;


•  building a merit-based, non-partisan and professional public service that puts the people first;


•  strengthening law enforcement agencies to address crime, corruption and gender-based violence; and


•  investing in people through better education, skills development and quality healthcare.

It’s also a good thing that the newly formed EFF-led Progressive Caucus, which represents 13% of the National Assembly, does not want to join a GNU if it means having to collaborate with the DA and Freedom Front Plus, who they say are “rooted in colonialism and apartheid”. Julius Malema,  is maturing and vowed to stop the disruptive antics which marked the EFF’s parliamentary drama, but said he would serve the people who voted for the red brigade. The GNU needs watchdogs in Parliament to make sure the parties in government keep their promises. The GNU will be kept on its toes by Action SA, the MK Party (when its members eventually decide to pitch up in parliament) and Malema's progressive caucus.

I’m just not sure how progressive newly appointed EFF MP Carl Niehaus will be, though. I just don’t get why the red brigade is offering a rehab seat for the self-confessed crook who stepped down as ANC spokesperson in 2009 after faking the death of his mother, Magrietha Niehaus‚ in order to get out of debt of R4.3-million owed to a landlord.

[embed]https://twitter.com/niehaus_carl/status/1801564359103074500?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet[/embed]

I really hope that by the end of the day we have a government that serves us, the people of South Africa. Not just us in the middle class, which includes all the MPs and MPLs who are being sworn in today and all civil servants who contribute personal taxes for government to do its work, but every vulnerable person who does not have a job, every child, every pensioner, every hungry person, every one of the 18.2 million people in South Africa who live in extreme poverty.

I think if the GNU gets down to work on the priorities reflected in its agreement we might just get a chance at once again becoming a beacon of hope. We in the media will stick to our promise to make sure that every politician in and out of Parliament, in Cabinet, in every legislature and municipality delivers on their promise.

In this week's DM168 our associate editor Marianne Merten gives you an insight into what went behind today's long day and night in parliament and what it all means for us,

If you would like your views about the GNU reflected on our letters page write to me at [email protected]

Yours in defence of truth and hope,

Heather

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R35.