By Pule Monama: An independent political commentator and former leader of the Azanian Peoples Organisation
The DA and the ANC are now at loggerheads, at least in public! Could we say the same thing about them in private? What exactly they are saying to each other in private is anyone’s guess. But what we know for certain though, is that what brought them together was the two elephants in the room, the Umkhonto Wesizwe Party and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).
The DA, on the one hand, would rather go back to the ANC and mend whatever broke their otherwise fragile relationship. On the other hand, a section of the ANC would want the same. But the dilemma the two are facing is whether a coalition between the ANC and MK Party or the EFF or both would guarantee any “stability” in the country. The one section of the ANC may not believe so, while the other camp believes this is the best option.
This scenario has to be a big headache for the President of the Republic on the one hand, and the President of the ANC on the other. The President spoke about his receipt of a letter from a business that urges him and the leader of the DA to find a way of resolving this impasse. Publicly, in the presence of the Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, he rebuked the business community for “meddling” in the country’s political matters. He said he was only accountable to his electorate. Was this the Cyril Ramaphosa we know, or was he simply grandstanding. Was he trying to please Panyaza Lesufi and his constituency in Gauteng? Your guess is as good as mine. As far as I know, the Cyril I know has always found it difficult to talk politics without the mention or involvement of business. In fact, his politics are centred around business. In the fullness of time, we will get to understand our President and what he meant, much better. The DA, on the other hand, must be kicking themselves for agreeing to the 0.5% VAT increase with the proviso that the two bills, the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act (Bela) and the Expropriation Act, should be renegotiated. It would have served the DA much better if they had stuck to the “no VAT” increase stance and left the conditions for another day. This would have given them a higher moral ground.
My thinking is that the ANC’s President and the DA’s leader will, if they are not in a meeting already, meet and discuss this impasse, as I don’t believe either one of them wants to see the GNU disintegrate. This may mean that the ANC’s President is going against a section of his party which wishes to form a coalition with either the EFF or MK Party or both. The DA once more is set to become a common denominator in the now-well-known tension within the ANC-led tripartite alliance over the DA’s inclusion in the GNU.
Class Dismissed – Just thinking while it’s still legal –@NewsSA_Online
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