Internal conflicts, misalignment of goals and poor co-ordination are some of the pitfalls that coalitions face or are collapsed by. Ours has a lack of trust issue, but also a strong need in each of the parties to hold on to state power.
This week, DA federal chair Helen Zille set the cat among the pigeons, again, when she dismissed the concept of a government of national unity. She said the name was just a Cyril Ramaphosa figleaf that allowed him to bring more parties to the partnership, and an easy way to mask the marriage with the DA within the ANC. She is not incorrect. But such frank statements are bound to worsen hostility among the parties, as indicated by the counter-salvo from ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula. “She can leave,” he said in response.
Personalities are often the most adhesive elements in coalitions. In the past, Zille played a role worth studying when it comes to the running of coalitions. Her success in pulling together splinters in a DA-centred City of Cape Town more than a decade ago could be attributed largely to her gritty nature. She may believe that she can once again be the glue to the 2024 coalition. However, the dynamics are different, as she is not the one at the centre of it all.
John Steenhuisen is the de jure leader of the DA and the one leading DA efforts in the cabinet. The DA has a lot to lose if Zille and Steenhuisen have differing approaches to the coalition. Whatever their attitudes, they have a duty to build deep and constructive relations with the ANC if the DA is to succeed. It is too early for disparaging comments, however correct.
But what will success look like for the DA? It needs coherence and a clear approach to its role in national government so it can avoid a bad performance in local elections in two years’ time. Before that, it has a leadership election next year where residual issues that may be overshadowed by the coalition may come up.
The coalition may earn Steenhuisen some breathing space and make his bid for another term at the helm of the DA more attainable than would have been the case had they stayed in opposition. The question of whether both he and Zille can return to their posts may not be easily examined now in the infancy of their new status as part of the national government.
In the short term, Steenhuisen bears quite a heavy load on his shoulders. He has to manage the DA, South Africa’s second-biggest political party, as it charts new ground as a governing coalition member.
He also has to come to terms with his new role as agriculture minister and lead the DA’s caucus in the new cabinet, in which five other colleagues were appointed ministers. As an opposition party, the DA focused on the ANC government’s glaring failings. It can still rely on these as it establishes itself as a party capable of governing at the national level. However, its leaders have to establish new relationships and earn the trust of stakeholders, including civil servants who may be hostile to bosses from a party they’re not too familiar with.
Steenhuisen earned a reputation as a pugnacious chief whip during the heady days of the Nkandla saga. Importantly, he has the backing of Zille and, evidently, the party’s financial backers.
In a way, the DA of 2024 does not have to produce new policies altogether, as it is on the same page as the ANC on the reforms under way under the Operation Vulindlela programme.
Steenhuisen earned a reputation as a pugnacious chief whip during the heady days of the Nkandla saga. Importantly, he has the backing of Zille and, evidently, the party’s financial backers
Before the election, the DA identified what it describes as “apex priorities” as either a governing or coalition partner party. These include an end to load- and water-shedding, ensuring universal access to basic health care, a reformed and professionalised civil service within a capable state, lifting 6-million people out of poverty in five years and doubling the number of grade 4 learners who can read for meaning. On July 16, Steenhuisen delivered the agriculture ministry’s budget vote in parliament, which has been praised by industry experts.
“The speech was valuable, underscoring a message of continuity from the sixth administration, with an added focus on relentless implementation,” said Wandile Sihlobo, the chief economist at the Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa and a senior fellow in Stellenbosch University’s department of agricultural economics.
In the speech, Steenhuisen embraced the agriculture and agro-processing master plan introduced by his predecessor, Thoko Didiza, in 2022.
Steenhuisen also said his goal was to ensure that small- and large-scale farmers were at the cutting edge of agricultural advancements. How he manoeuvres around his new portfolio and casts an eye over the other ministries under the DA’s watch may well be an important period in the evolution of South Africa’s party politics.
• Mkokeli is lead partner at public affairs consultancy Mkokeli Advisory
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