by LUKE MONTGOMERY ZUNGA
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) – THE Parliament of the seventh administration of South Africa opened last week with grandeur and fanfare.
Despite the cold and wet weather, there was the usual who is who of South Africa. Political dignitaries strolled onto the red carpet, to the glare of the media.
All the channels and foreign media were arrayed to engage and explore political postures and opinions. Then the deputy president, Paul Mashatile arrived towards dusk, flanked by throngs of security details.
The president Cyril Ramaphosa’s mystic lights gleamed and flashed, as his motorcade crawled into the alley, flanged by a mild gallop of strong smooth-dark horses, and he took his stand outside parliament for the 21-gun salute, flanged by the two speakers of Parliament and National Chamber of Provinces respectively.
The doors closed to listen to the address by the President at about 6:54pm.
President Ramaphosa started by acknowledging the new speakers of the joint seating, past presidents and deputy presidents, dignitaries as well as welcoming over 400 parliamentarians and 90 members of the National Council of provinces.
Parliament was opened to coincide with 18th July, the birthday of Nelson Mandela and it was a keynote for the country to continue his legacy.
The Government of National Unity (GNU) was introduced emerging from the 29th May 2024 elections.
The main GNU parties are the African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and seven other smaller ones.
From an observer’s point of view, the GNU represents nearly 70% of the vote which legitimized it.
The ANC accounts for the total 40% vote while the DA has 21% of the votes making them the main components of the GNU, and the two can form a government on their own as a coalition.
This is the reason why some commentators and the opposition argue that it is not a GNU but a coalition which was spruced up by inviting eight other smaller parties.
Televised publicly, the president delivered a characteristically eloquent speech of a long list of policy deliverables. But people had heard them before during political campaigns. It would have been inspiring if it were his first speech delivery.
On the 19th May parliamentarians and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) members debated the president’s address.
Those in the GNU defended the President’s speech. The new opposition, the Umkhonto we Sizwe (MKP) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) deranged the president and the GNU, and why the ANC chose to go with the centre right DA instead of the left.
Listening to the televised debates, South Africa was on the cusp of failure. The ANC had failed to deliver the mandate they were given for 30 years, starting with crime, health, education, unemployment, electricity, service delivery, among others.
In the previous state of the nation addresses, before this parliamentary opening, the President promised a long list of deliverables.
The same deliverables were coming through as GNU commitments and policies. The ANC retained the same MPs and ministers.
What is it the ANC President would do which the ANC could not do the previous administrations?
It is clear that the new kid in the block is the DA. The GNU can only succeed through the DA, because the ANC promised the same deliverables which they could not deliver in the last 30 years.
The success of the GNU must be expected from and credited to the DA. The toing and froing about the centre of the GNU must be settled by this argument, not the secretary general of the ANC, Fikile Mbalula, who lambasted the opposition.
The ANC has taken the country back to the white citizens for solutions to save its soul.
Will the DA succeed? What needs to be done requires a lot of money to be accomplished. The country is already heavily borrowed.
The DA can succeed to manage what is there, reduce rampant corruption and improve service delivery. Beyond that it is highly unlikely.
South Africa and the rest of Africa have the same problem. They do not provide funding to start a factory or any formal business, opting to wait for foreign investors. Black people are crying for lack of inclusivity in this respect.
In a High Court case in South Africa, on the question why governments cannot advance capital to black entrepreneurs to start factories, the President and the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) defended the matter.
It means the government of South Africa agrees with the DTIC director-general (DG), not to provide funding to startups. The other issue is land distribution.
If the ANC could not achieve inclusivity and land distribution, the DA is not the partner for that.
All we can hope for is great fortunes for the new GNU.
NB: Luke Montgomery Zunga is a socio-economic and political commentator.
– CAJ News