Bickering spoils the GNU spirit

How can it be that a country that was full of hope three weeks ago, can now suddenly feel so disillusioned.

I think everyone depended on the positivity of the new government of national unity (GNU), but all the in-fighting, hard bargaining… As far as I can see, the smaller parties are happy.

When a party with six parliamentary seats gets a Cabinet position, how on earth can they be unhappy. But when a party with 87 seats gets only six Cabinet positions, they might have reason to complain.

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Complaining against the spirit of the GNU is another question, because the bickering has spoilt the positive spirit of the GNU, but I think nobody in all fairness can expect them to just let it go.

And now that the sibling rivalry has become hot in Gauteng, very few people can call the fighting in this key province hearty debate any longer.

What fascinates me endlessly, is how little Egg approach the candidates and parties of her choice. She studied the election posters carefully and then laid down the rules: “We” are not going to support that one with the strict face (Pieter Groenewald) or the ugly red hat, she told me.

ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba is all right – they call him “Mr Fix it” on his poster and Rocky’s dog house needs repairing.

Isn’t that just perfect of how a democracy should work. Mashaba will fix whatever needs fixing and if he doesn’t, we’ll get someone else next time.

There’s no reason to worry about petty things like that. If you work for the people, you work for the people.

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If you only work for your party, you should take your stuff and skedaddle. Naïve? Perhaps, but that’s how it should work. I think a weekend presented by the little Egg to DA Federal Council chair Helen Zille and Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi can’t be a bad thing.

Anyhow, a lot of people besides Egg are disillusioned about the direction the GNU is taking.

Can things change? Perhaps. But the longer we take, the lighter we should tread.

We need jobs. We need a working economy. People can’t sit at home much longer. “Mr Fix it” isn’t going to do it all by himself. He hasn’t even tackled Rocky’s dog house yet.

It needs the best possible effort by all of us. There’s a lot of work to be done.