Pictures: The Citizen/Michel Bega and @Our_DA/Twitter
Political analyst Ebrahim Fakir has criticised the handling of power-sharing talks, stating that South Africans are losing trust in political parties, particularly the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
This comes as the deal between the ANC and DA balances on a knife edge.
In recent days, leaks of the DA’s demands made it into the public domain, including the party wanting to be given at least 12 cabinet portfolios and the position of deputy president.
On Thursday, a leaked letter from Ramaphosa to DA leader John Steenhuisen gave the country a peak into the negotiations process ahead of a cabinet announcement.
In the letter, Ramaphosa accused the DA of “jeopardising the foundation of setting up a Government of National Unity (GNU)” with its letter of demands.
A deal is yet to be struck following the DA’s refusal to accept a deal put on the table by Ramaphosa, with the party telling the president that if he does not abide by the initial offer, the agreement between the DA and ANC is off.
ALSO READ: Dear John: Ramaphosa lambastes Steenhuisen and Zille in scathing letter
Fakir told eNCA that despite the DA strongly condemning the ANC for its cadre deployment programme, the party insisted on appointing its own candidates for top posts in the GNU to ensure that they hired the best people for the job.
“The manner in which there was hubris, especially from a party which enjoys only 21% of electoral support. The kind of inconsistency and hypocrisy saying ‘we don’t actually want cadre deployment, but we want to be able to now because it suits us appoint the director generals’ which is basically cadre deployment by another name.”
Fakir also criticised the ANC.
“A party which had an unassailable majority until now, doesn’t have it any more, is only at 39.8%, and then pretends as if it has the sort of commanding hubris to be able to tell everyone else what they want to do, is frankly surprising to me that political parties don’t appear to realise that the manner in which they behave exceeds a greater amount of mistrust and distrust not just to them, but in the institutions of government generally.
“I think they still go on and pretend as if the whole process of the elections and forming a government is all about themselves, their own interests, what suits them as political parties, about what they can get their grubby hands on… When in fact, the formation of government is about people, voter and about the citizens in the country, and yet it appears that in all of their discussions, that’s the very last thing that they are actually bothered about,” Fakir said.
As South Africans, businesses and the country as a whole wait in anticipation for Ramaphosa to announce a new and inclusive Cabinet, the president in the letter also advised Steenhuisen of urgency, as the country could not continue with this “paralysis”, saying he intended to conclude all negotiations and consultation this week, while remaining open to further discussions.
ALSO READ: DA reportedly threatens to leave GNU after Ramaphosa ‘changes cabinet deal’
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