GNUs doomed to fail: Maimane

MOSES MATENGA

The South African government of national unity (GNU) between the revolutionary African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance is likely to go the Zanu PF, MDC-T alliance way that dismally failed and was marred by conflicts and contestations until it grinded to a halt in 2013, a top South African opposition leader Mmusi Maimane has said.

Maimane, a former DA leader who now fronts One South Africa Movement and is a Member of Parliament said a coalition government between the two leading political outfits would have been a better option as GNUs, given the Zimbabwean example, only work to favour the incumbent and not the people.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a new Cabinet that saw the DA leader John Steenhuisen becoming the Agriculture Minister while Leon Schreiber becomes the Home Affairs Minister amid higher expectations he will facilitate an easier path for holders of Zimbabwean Exemption Permits (ZEPs) to obtain permanent residency.

The DA controls six ministries in total.

Under the ANC, the Home Affairs ministry had a tougher stance on ZEP.

Maimane feels the GNU will not work, just like the Zimbabwe one failed between 2008 and 2013.

The late former President Robert Mugabe narrowly lost to the late former Prime Minister and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the 2008 harmonized elections.

However, the first round of the polls did not produce an outright winner amid claims by the opposition that results were manipulated to force a runoff that saw an orgy of violence against Tsvangirai’s supporters.

Mugabe was in a “one-man race” on June 27 in 2008 after Tsvangirai withdrew citing violence perpetrated against his supporters and the Zanu PF leader “won”.

A SADC mediated series of talks led to a GNU that was affected by clashes and fights that seemed to favour the “incumbent”, exactly Maimane’s argument.

“I do think you must remind yourself that in Zimbabwe you’ve been through what is typically called the GNU. What GNUs do is they do not address the problems that you face because they protect the incumbents,” he said.

“They issue patronage back to incumbents, but they hardly ever in the long run deliver for people because there’s always political competition.  South Africa heads to an election in two years’ time, there’s going to be a contestation even within that space so I do think these little things are matters that we need to look at carefully and consider what they mean for South Africa, given the fact that governments of national unity don’t work,” he added.

“I think that what we should have gone for is for a coalition between the ANC and the DA, and that would have meant that the executive is smaller, much more focused, and is able to deliver.”

On what was likely the stance going forward on Zimbabwean immigrants in South Africa, Maimane passed confidence on the new Home Affairs Minister saying: “I think at least in this instance, the Minister Leon Schreiber is a fairly responsible citizen. The issue is about how the government itself works collectively? How do we ensure that it isn’t just a mere putting together of people for the purpose of political patronage, but really looking at how we deliver not only for South Africans, but for SADC in total,” Maimane told Business Times.

While the ANC has a healthy relationship with Zanu PF, the DA is viewed as an ally of Zimbabwe’s opposition and has many times castigated the ruling party for alleged human rights violations.

The marriage of convenience puts Zanu PF in a corner over what awaits the country as the two parties, ANC and DA, both with conflicting positions on Zimbabwe, work together.

Democratic Alliance is violently against the Zimbabwe land reform programme that saw thousands of white commercial farmers losing their land during the chaotic process.

However, the Mnangagwa administration insists the land reform is irreversible, a potential conflict area for the new South African government and the revolutionary Zanu PF party.

Zanu PF resents opposition outfits in Southern Africa that Mnangagwa thinks are being used to ultimately kill the liberation movements in the region.

The appointment of the DA leader as Minister of Agriculture, observers say, was a win for the South African opposition party that is objecting to the hard line stance of expropriation of land without compensation being pushed by a faction of the ANC and its offshoots, Umkhonto weSizwe and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).