Government of national unity requires a level of trust

One thing is certain, the road ahead is a bumpy one for South Africa.

Although the government that the ANC, Democratic Alliance (DA) and Inkatha Freedom Party have agreed to put together has been characterised as the government of national unity (GNU), a lot of animosity has developed between these parties in the past, especially between the ANC and the DA.

What this means is that the initiative of forming a government started from a position of a trust deficit. That could be a recipe for failure.

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Russian playwright Anton Chekhov once said: “You must trust and believe in people or life becomes impossible.”

This might sound very basic as a requirement to go into a governing partnership with an old enemy, but it is necessary.

There must be an acceptable level of trust between the parties that govern together. Just before President Cyril Ramaphosa’s inauguration, the country woke up to a seething DA federal chair Helen Zille chastising the ANC secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, for opening the door to the GNU negotiations to Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance, without consulting her party.

She said publicly: “Mbalula does not understand the document that he signed,” particularly quoting clause 24 of their agreement of the formation of the GNU.

If a basic level of trust existed between these two major players in the intended government, there would be no need to have these sorts of screaming matches in public.

This is not to say disagreements between GNU members must be swept under the carpet, but they need to be managed such that even the electorate sees the efforts at attaining the “unity” part of the GNU.

Things got even worse over the course of the week to the point that Zille has characterised the ANC as “African National Criminals”.

The public knows that disagreements are about the sharing of Cabinet positions in the GNU, but does not know the specifics.

The public also knows that to be characterising each other as criminals while engaged in what should be an exercise based on building an acceptable level of trust is an exercise in futility.

If parties cannot even be civil to each other, then there is no point in negotiating an agreement to govern with each other.

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The DA needs to realise that as much as the ANC has acted swiftly in wanting to form a government with it soon after the results were declared, they are not necessarily the only option. In terms of numbers, they are the most attractive option… but not the only option.

If they want to create a real wedge between themselves and the ANC, it is the easiest thing to do. All they need to do is continue negotiating in public.

Throw in an insult here and there and voilà, the proposed GNU will collapse before it even starts. And yes, there are people waiting gleefully for that eventuality.

Ready to pounce on what will be a fully humiliated ANC, humiliated at the polls and humiliated at the GNU negotiating table.

South Africa’s first GNU in 1994 worked only because Nelson Mandela’s and FW de Klerk’s camps found each other.

They knew that if they failed to do that, chaos would reign. Maybe the DA and ANC negotiators are willing to take the country several steps back in their quest for power.

That is their prerogative as chosen by the voters. But both sides must be careful that they are not opening the door to those who have shown in the past that they will loot South Africa blind if given a chance.