The ruling African National Congress has indicated a preference for a national unity government following the loss of its majority in Parliament in the May elections. It has reached out to five of the bigger parties for exploratory talks, but returning Member of Parliament for the opposition Democratic Alliance, Werner Horn has indicated in an interview with National Security News that his party could not serve in goverment with populist who do not respect the Constitution. However, he said the DA did not want to be in a situation where “the ANC, because of our unwillingness, is driven into the arms of the EFF and MK.”

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Risk of Violence if MK Party rejects election results

We hope a situation where the MKP (uMkhonto we Sizwe Party) might resort to the same type of chaos and violence that marked that period in July 2021, can be prevented. The threat to not take up seats, based on a misinterpretation of the constitution to force a rerun of the election, is incorrect. Hopefully, calmness will prevail, and they will accept the outcome. They believed they would achieve a two-thirds majority, which did not materialise. However, I’m not in a position to say that this specific province will not see its share of upheaval and violence in the weeks and months to come, unfortunately.

The security cluster is confident they won’t be caught off-guard again in KZN

I also serve on the National Liaison Committee (NLC) and the Political Liaison Committee of the IEC for the Democratic Alliance. A day or two before the election, while we were already convened in Johannesburg, we requested that the NLC, which includes security services and others, give the Political Liaison Committee a briefing. It was clear, even though their information was broad and overarching, that they knew where the hotspots could be during and after voting.

I firmly believe that they will not be caught off guard again. Part of the problem in 2021 was that some in command positions within the police services were unwilling to address the issue, and the South African National Defense Force, when deployed, went in somewhat blind. Hopefully, this can be addressed through the proper gathering of real-time intelligence and accurate information about what is unfolding in a province like that.

Inclusion of populist parties in government of national unity is not supported by the constitution

Our difficulty with a government of national unity, if it follows the same model as post-1994 during the interim or transitional period before our final constitution was established, is that it was formed by inviting all parties that garnered more than a specific threshold of votes to serve. In that election, it was everyone who received more than 2 percent of the vote.

Our difficulty lies in our ideological principle that we will not serve with the MK, the ANC, the EFF, and the Patriotic Alliance(PA) in the same government. Since this version of a government of national unity is no longer supported by the constitution, it would need to be established within the parameters of our current constitution. If this version is what the ANC wants, we will not be part of it, according to the decision of our federal executive.

DA does not want drive ANC into the arms of MK and EFF

If you momentarily set aside the best interests of the country and focus on your own medium and long-term prospects and self-preservation, it rarely turns out well for any junior or minority party. Ultimately, you are the one making most of the concessions about policies and manifesto promises.
There are significant risks. However, we are at a crossroads and must do whatever we can to prevent the ANC from being driven into the arms of the EFF and MK due to our unwillingness.

The EFF and MK have pledged policies such as the expropriation of private land without compensation and the nationalisation of our independent reserve bank, which has effectively managed the economy, interest rates, and inflation for the past 30 years. These damaging policy proposals are at the heart of what the EFF and MK promise. Our leader, John Steenhuisen, at one point, called the possibility of an ANC-EFF-MK coalition a “doomsday coalition.” We are prepared to do whatever is necessary to prevent that.

Minority government a possibility

We could also enable what we call a minority government. There are certain risks, even if we ultimately agree with the ANC to take leadership positions in our legislature, such as the National Assembly, with us assuming roles like the Speaker and presiding officers, as well as committee chairpersons, particularly in the oversight and accountability committees.

One risk is that while oversight and enforcement of accountability have been significantly weakened in South Africa over the last 30 years and never properly enforced due to the ANC’s hegemony over all levers of power, no bureaucracy or government technocrat really wants to be accountable and transparent.

DA Cooperation could Improve economic management, MK split-off might purify ANC

ANC-DA cooperation could maybe even drag the ANC to a path way where the economy is better managed. Policy positions that are detrimental to job creation and stability can be prevented.

The splitting off of the MK from the ANC might, in theory, act as a purifying exercise for the ANC. Although I haven’t had the opportunity to review the ANC’s new parliamentary candidates due to their decreased support, this situation might inadvertently result in the removal of some problematic characters from their candidate list.

We must be careful, both domestically and internationally, not to see this situation as an unavoidable catastrophe. South Africans have a resilience that is part of our character. Even if we can’t resolve everything through formal arrangements, hopefully, this will enable us to prioritise the best interests of South Africa, our economy, and our constitutional order when we sit in Parliament.