South Africa’s political landscape has changed dramatically since the African National Congress (ANC) lost its parliamentary majority and was forced to form a coalition government. There are two points worth noting about this new government, and they have many implications for how we describe South Africa and what we expect of its future actions.
Let’s call it what it is
First, it is misleading to call the new dispensation a government of national unity, even if ANC leaders do so in a desperate attempt to make their coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA) align with the historical compromise that heralded the end of apartheid in 1994. We must not forget that the main condition for the DA to become a member of the coalition was that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) be banned from holding any political office. This level of political intolerance contradicts the very idea of an inclusive government, where many parties, irrespective of their ideological and political differences, try to find some common ground and work together for the good of the nation.
Against this background, the results of the 29 May 2024 General Elections did not lead to the formation of a government of national unity, contrary to what Ramaphosa declared on 7 June. Rather, it led to the formation of an ANC-DA grand coalition involving several other political parties represented in the National Assembly. These other smaller political parties joined the coalition because they share political viewpoints similar to those agreed upon by the DA and the ANC in their joint statement of intent. In any case, it is important to recognise and define things as they really are. Misrepresenting events can lead not only to poor decision-making but also to unreasonable expectations.
Second, given the diversity of the parties that eventually came together to form this grand coalition government, the country’s domestic policies and foreign relations could be significantly affected in the coming months and years.
On the domestic front, for example, the DA’s idea of good governance is a euphemism for neo-liberalism, which comes with a strong aversion to state-sponsored social programmes. With this new grand coalition, the modest economic gains that black South Africans have made since 1994 are arguably at serious risk of reversal. This means that progressives must take proactive steps to expand and consolidate these gains through vigorous political discourse and active participation in oversight and advocacy work in order to prevent this impending reversal.
On the foreign policy front, even the Palestine and BRICS issues, which the previous ANC government rightly raised and promoted, are now in jeopardy because the DA, a Eurocentric party that opposes BRICS, supports Israel, and does not recognise Palestine, is in government.
To put it simply for those unfamiliar with South African politics, if the ANC still had some semblance of left-wing politics, even if only for popular purposes, the current coalition has brought about a marked shift to the right.
A broken social contract between politicians and citizens
Some commentators have argued that despite the ideological diversity of South Africa’s new coalition government, its members are united by a shared commitment to the country’s prosperity and an understanding that this requires an effective state. However, it is a weak argument that the ANC and the DA have fundamental policy differences on the domestic front, as they agree much more on neo-liberal economic policies. This is evidenced by how they have governed in their respective provinces and municipalities, where anti-poor, pro-elite policies have been the order of the day. No wonder that in elite circles the ANC’s decision to govern in partnership with the right and to distance itself from those described as more predatory and ethno-populist (the MK and the EFF) has been misinterpreted as a new and unambiguous signal of its commitment to promoting rapid growth. Everything is being done to hide the divorce between the elite and the people and to give the country an air of unity and togetherness. But this is a Hollywood fairy tale.
The ugly truth we have to face is that there is a lot of mistrust between the people, political leaders and parties. Thirty years of corrupt ANC rule put the country where it is, and the South African public has long been wary of the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) unwillingness to change in terms of political ideology and economic principles.
Since the 2010s, everything has changed: heated politics, civic disillusionment, cynical leadership and economic stagnation have become the norm. The ANC has led the country into a vicious downward spiral. Even the rise to power of Ramaphosa in 2018, who was then described as an astute economic manager, couldn’t stop the ANC government from further impoverishing the poor and working class. Many people have lost faith in the possibility of a better future, and, consequently, in the political system, as evidenced by the fact that only 16 million out of 40 million eligible voters participated in the recent elections. And things could get worse.
Whose class interests would the coalition advance?
This coalition will only serve as a tool to further consolidate the neo-liberal, austerity and privatisation programme within a more liberal and right-wing government framework. It offers nothing concrete to the majority of the population; it is clearly only a consolidation of power at the level of the state by the political bourgeois class, which deceives the public into believing that it is a unified government that prioritises the needs of the people.
The 2024 elections have exposed the gulf between the political elite and the people in South Africa to such an extent that it is difficult to imagine the current coalition government surviving for the next five years.
This political arrangement appears destined to be a political stillborn, likely to fail the working class, the unemployed and even the vulnerable black middle class. Such a failure would mean that it would not deliver genuine and substantive national unity through meaningful, people-oriented socio-economic reform. But until such unity is achieved and historical injustices addressed, the future of Africa’s newest democratic experiment is bleak.
