ANC and DA need to learn to play nice, but can they?

When Deputy President Paul Mashatile was going off at the DA ministers, expecting them to be ashamed at coming to work having not supported the budget, I was quite impressed that he was familiar with shame as a concept.

But even he, with his incredibly philosophical prowess, pitched up to work after his party got knocked down by some 3.5 million votes.

Not only must the job still get done, but in South Africa, we don’t vote for our executive, at least not directly. It’s this whole checks and balances thing that the constitutional drafters called the separation of powers. And you know, people still need to go to work. I figured New Oom Paul was alive to that, given that he had no qualms taking up his executive post.

The separation of powers has been the gouty knee of democracy across the world. To please his backbenchers, UK Prime Minister David Cameron called a stupid referendum. US President Donald Trump famously gunned for his own deputy who didn’t perform his legislative role as Trump wanted. The line between executive and legislature does feel weird to the untrained eye, but it remains there!

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So, a minister, in their role as a minister, can still wear a separate hat as a legislator. In much the same way as a president can be leader of a country and their own political party; having internal political conversations and making decisions of national interest.

ANC and DA politicians need to drop arrogance

Of course, the DA can act insufferably and be arrogant. Who in politics can’t? Who humbly says, “I want to lead a whole country and believe I’d do it better than anybody else”? Is it not arrogant to force a budget you know your partners can’t stomach down their throats? Is it not arrogant to claim your unity partners want to be both in government and in opposition when you want to govern with them but also on your own terms?

Is it not just annoying that after all the promise of a functional government of national unity, we learn that we were just teased and, once again, matching the ugly Tinder profile heavily filtered with a bio written by ChatGPT?

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The excitement of the cheap date waned long ago, and realising that you have to live with this person who sold you the dream is hardly a nice way to live your life, especially when they bring the kids they never told you about and you find out that they’re still texting their exes.

GNU: Stop name-calling and start governing

So here’s an idea: How about we stop the name-calling and actually start governing? It’s pretty obvious where the parties’ red lines are, so it shouldn’t be that tough to avoid them. One would think that those would have been included in the original agreement, but hey, we’re not exactly dealing with competent politicians here.

Give us a break and just get it together already. Nobody has the energy for this nonsense. If you’re supposed to be building a country together, then in between all the bickering, you’d expect some building to happen. But we’re still waiting.

I wish Mashatile’s logic was universal. I don’t agree with how my tax is often used, but I hardly think I’d dare say that I’m ashamed to pay it. After all, who else would pay New Oom Paul R3 million a year to do whatever it is that he does? Vow stability and offer division?

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I don’t know what it is with this lot, but I’ve never seen a group of people want to work less with one another but not be willing to admit it.

Let’s start there. You don’t like one another. Why pretend? You need one another though because none of you got the love of the country. Don’t throw the remaining love you have left away because you can’t play nice.

There are four more budgets to go, and they certainly can’t all go like this. One more year of antagonistic politicking, alienating once partners, and who will be left to vote with you?

These guys have to learn to play nice, but that’s difficult when you’re not kids anymore.