On paper, the Government of National Unity (GNU) seems to be doing well, with all parties pulling together. But is that the case? Recent comments from both African National Congress and Democratic Alliance members seem to hint at the honeymoon phase being over. Let’s take a look at the drama plaguing the GNU.

  1. Auntie Helen’s been talking

DA Federal Chairperson Helen Zille’s comments during an election dialogue upset some members of the ruling party. At a public engagement held by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom on Wednesday, 31 July 2024, Auntie Helen said that the GNU was just a DA-ANC coalition government. “A government of national unity brings all the parties together that would include the EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters] and MK [Umkhonto weSizwe] party, which it did not. But it still gave the president the fig leaf he needed to bring in all sorts of smaller parties to say, ‘I’m not in a coalition with the DA’. 

Zille said the truth was that the DA and ANC were actually in a coalition. “Because a coalition means that if a party withdraws from the coalition, that party falls,” she said.

Zille’s comments raised the ire of some GNU members, including ANC deputy secretary general Nomvula Mokonyane, who said Zille and the DA were and remain “guests of the ANC.” Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie tweeted (as usual) that Zille and the DA should withdraw from the GNU. “We will still be standing as the GNU; your inability to be part of anything whereby you don’t exclusively call the shots is senile,” said McKenzie. ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula called Zille’s comments “a distraction”, saying the DA was free to leave the GNU. “Stop being irritated by Zille every time she says she wants to see the ANC dead. It wouldn’t have stopped even if there was no GNU; the DA and others are not going to stop,” he said.

  1. Mayoral mishaps

The DA in the Western Cape has accused the Freedom Front Plus of “betrayal” after the FF+ voted with the ANC in the Oudtshoorn Municipality and gave the DA’s Chris Macpherson the boot during a special council meeting on Thursday, 1 August. In an interview with News24, Auntie Helen said that FF+ had been plotting to remove the DA from the mayoral position in the municipality. “This was their plan from the beginning. They’ve been talking with the ANC for a long time. And they were instrumental in voting out a DA mayor despite a coalition agreement … and then getting themselves elected mayor by the ANC,” she said. 

Johan Allers of the FF+ was elected mayor, and Jongilizwe Tyatya of the ANC was chosen as his deputy. The FF+ said that the previous mayor “made cooperation impossible.” 

3. Ministers vs Ministers?

Last week, a report emerged that some of the ANC’s ministers complained that opposition ministers were “making them look bad.” The complaints were raised at an ANC National Working Committee (NWC) meeting, where some ANC ministers revealed that they were even scared to speak to the media. The ANC has, however, denied this, saying, “There was no such a discussion precisely because there is no such outperformance of the ANC by anybody.” 🤭 Columnist Barney Mthombeni said that a bit of competition could be what the ANC needs to mend their ways. “It could be the shot in the arm the ANC sorely needs and could be an antidote to the lethargy that has brought the country to such a pretty pass,” he said.

So, while the government gets to work, the issues between partners remain. This is to be expected with any partnership, whether a GNU or a coalition. We do wish someone could rein Auntie Helen in, though. She’s doing too much.