South Africa: ANC-DA Coalition Agreement Falls Apart | Report
The coalition agreement between South Africa’s two largest political parties, the ANC and DA, has collapsed, reported IOL.
Citing highly placed sources within the ANC, IOL reported that the power-sharing deal between the two parties is all but over following a series of disagreements and public spats between them.
As part of the Government of National Unity (GNU) arrangement, the ANC and DA attained about 60% of the seats in Parliament, with other parties also signing a document of intent.
However just a week after the coalition elected ANC’s Cyril Ramaphosa as president, the deal has reportedly collapsed due to a squabble over positions and ministries. Said a source:
It’s all but over. The ANC in general wasn’t very thrilled with a DA coalition. This has been made worse because of how the DA has conducted itself, particularly around leaking information and letters to the media.
Another source who was privy to the high-level discussions told IOL that the ANC negotiating team was not happy with the DA’s posture. Said the source:
The way the ANC is being spoken to and how they (the DA) are coming across is a problem. The feeling is that we don’t need the DA to form a government, so they must not think they can dictate the terms to us.
Ramaphosa, in a letter to DA leader, John Steenhuisen, has accused the DA of jeopardising the formation of a unified government.
This follows reports that the Department of Trade and Industry portfolio is a source of tension in the ongoing negotiations between the DA and the ANC.
Helen Zille, the DA Federal Chairperson, recently wrote a letter to ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula, informing him that her party deserved a score of ministerial positions in the GNU.
Initially, the DA demanded 12 ministerial positions, including that of the deputy president, but after ironing out matters, the ANC resolved to give the DA six ministerial portfolios.
The ministerial portfolios offered to the DA included Home Affairs; Basic Education; Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC); Public Works and Infrastructure; Communications and Digital Technologies; and Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment.
However, Steenhuisen wrote to Ramaphosa, stating that the six cabinet positions allocated to the DA were insufficient, and requesting two additional portfolios, for a total of eight ministerial posts.
Steenhuisen suggested that the portfolios of Sports, Arts and Culture, Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Reform, or Public Service and Administration be allocated to them in addition to the six existing Cabinet portfolios.
In a final letter to Steenhuisen, Ramaphosa accused the DA of shifting the “goalposts” with their constantly changing demands. Said Ramaphosa:
I regard your approach in moving the goalposts as a continuation of what was articulated in your Federal Chair’s letter of 22 June 2024 on issues such as ‘sealed mandates’ of Ministries, through which the DA seemed to want to set up a parallel government that would operate outside the framework and parameters of the constitution-based method and protocols of running the government of the Republic of South Africa.
Ramaphosa said the DA’s latest proposals do not match the principles outlined in the Statement of Intent.
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