Time to eat? The reality of political alliances

It appears as though, while the DA were huffing and puffing about the alliance between ActionSA, the EFF and ANC, which saw a new Tshwane mayor elected yesterday, they won’t be bringing the house of the government of national unity (GNU) down around their ears.

They will, according to party leader John Steenhuisen, be calling off all talks with the ANC about cooperation at a local government level.

While that sounds like a major tiff, Steenhuisen himself pointed out that the agreement which set up the GNU was only about a national multiparty working arrangement.

The way now appears to be open for the ANC-EFF-ActionSA alliance to share the governance spoils across the other major metros in the province, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni.

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Now that those groupings are all sitting together comfortably, their leaders are promising that the new arrangements will bring never-before-seen stability to municipalities in Gauteng.

Oh really? The track record of all of you in this regard is only slightly removed from being abysmal, so you’re going to have to pull some dramatic rabbits out of hats to bring this change about.

But perhaps that is not what your end game is… maybe you all believe it’s your time to eat.