Helen Zille’s ‘parallel president’ role: A distraction for the GNU

A visitor from outer space would be excused for thinking that parliament was one big joke following the many comical moments at the opening of parliament last week.

From Gwede Mantashe’s misaligned jacket button to Gayton McKenzie’s clapback at Mbuyiseni Ndlozi being an “iceboy” (someone sent around to do menial tasks by those with real money or power) in the EFF, there was no shortage of laughter.

But those comical moments provide the real picture of how the government of national unity (GNU) will shape up in the next five years.

It will not help the GNU much if the ANC national chair, Mantashe, has to publicly warn the DA’s federal council chair, Helen Zille, that she could precipitate the unravelling of the GNU if she were to continue acting as a “parallel president”.

The quips and digs thrown at John Steenhuisen in parliament about being merely a matriculant will find a willing audience if he is not allowed the space to act as the head of the DA within government, because his political superior is always acting like a helicopter parent.

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Both the ANC and DA, as the majority partners in the GNU, must face up to the criticisms directed at them by their detractors without succumbing to that egotistical need to demonstrate that they are really in charge, because the truth remains that the electorate chose to put neither of them in charge.

The accusation that the ANC sold out on its liberation mandate will not suddenly disappear tomorrow.

They will continue getting that, not only from the EFF but also from their most recent breakaway group, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

It might feel quite right for the ANC to throw as many punches as possible back at those seeking to govern from outside, but the real work of governing and producing results for the people of South Africa will only come from within the GNU itself. Anything else is a distraction.

While Zille might actually believe that she is shaping the GNU to the liking of her electorate by constantly wanting to assert the “independence” (or autonomy, as she explains it), she is actually doing more to undermine her own ministers by wanting to fight their battles for them.

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Truth be told, the past month-and-half have been tough for Steenhuisen because even though he was appointed a minister, the real power has indeed been with Zille, who was calling the shots in crafting the DA’s role in the GNU.

Steenhuisen became more like what McKenzie accused Ndlozi of the EFF of, an iceboy.

The posturing and cheap shots thrown around might seem just like they are simply that, moments of comical relief, but the truth is they are aimed at what the MK party and the EFF view as an uneasy alliance that could crumble very soon.

And crumble it will if the major partners within the tent of the GNU want to always be second-guessing each other, because they want to demonstrate that they were not defeated by the other, while negotiating to form the GNU.

If there is indeed a “parallel president” that Zille denies exists, it might seem crafty of their political think-tank, but it undermines the glue that is supposed to hold together their uneasy alliance with the ANC.

The thing to remember for any of the partners when they get tempted to flex their muscles is that the constant jabs thrown at each distracts them but, most importantly, it gives ammunition to those firing at them.