Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
The Democratic Alliance has not completely shut the door on a coalition with the ANC, if its Multi-Party Charter alliance fails in its objective of unseating the governing party in the 29 May general elections, DA leader John Steenhuisen said.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Steenhuisen said the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa, dubbed the “moonshot pact”, would also have to assess — based on merit — whether it would enter into a coalition with former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.
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Steenhuisen said his priority was getting thecharter over the 51% mark and winning the elections. But, if this did not happen, all affected parties would have to sit down and decide on the next move.
Suspicion that the DA would enter into a coalition with the ANC almost scuppered Steenhuisen’s ambition to form the super-coalition of opposition parties, with its allies in Herman Mashaba’s ActionSA questioning the party’s sincerity in entering into an agreement designed to unseat the governing party.
Steenhuisen said the DA was adamant that it would not consider a coalition with the ANC, should it be led by its deputy president, Paul Mashatile. He also criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa as having failed to reform the ANC, saying he wasn’t confident the DA would do a deal with the president.
The leader of the official opposition added although he was aware the business sector might be in favour of a DA coalition with the ANC, “people must be very wary about what they ask for”, noting that a coalition between Zimbabwe’s two biggest parties forged in 2009 had failed to bring stability to the country.
“So, just putting people together in a marriage of convenience doesn’t reform the one or the other.
“What I have said, though, is that we would like to prevent an ANC-EFF [Economic Freedom Fighters] tie-up because I’m concerned about what would happen to the country,” Steenhuisen said.
“I think there would be disinvestment. I think there would be capital flight and I think international investors would find other emerging markets to take their business to because they’ve seen this movie before in Venezuela and Zimbabwe. We would do whatever we can to prevent that from taking place.
“It’s impossible to pin oneself to one scenario. But we will be open to making sure we do whatever we can to prevent a radical government getting into power and taking the country down the same path as Venezuela.”
But Steenhuisen conceded that the government of national unity option would need to be explored.
“That is a conversation to take place once the voters have played their hand and told us, as the political parties: ‘This is the result that we’re giving you now. It’s up to you to play these hands and to make them work or otherwise,’” he said.
“And we would have to then sit in and discuss what the best way forward would be. And there are no options in an environment like that that are off the table. Everything is on the table then, because those are the cards that have been dealt.
“But I maintain that, if we work hard over the next couple of weeks and months, we can get the Multi-Party Charter over the line.”
He said red-line issues that would hamper a DA coalition with the ANC included land expropriation without compensation, nationalisation of the South African Reserve Bank and the National Health Insurance scheme.
Although he disagreed that a coalition of the two parties was the best way to bring stability in the event of there being no outright winner in the elections, Steenhuisen said a coalition with the ANC might be the “least worst option to prevent the radicals in government from taking over”.
“We would be willing to look at a variety of options then in order to achieve a result that we believe would be beneficial for South Africa’s future. And that’s as far as I can go — that I can’t say to you a ANC-DA government’s going to happen.
“I can’t say to you it’s going to be stable, because I just don’t know. I don’t know what the ANC is going to look like after the election. I don’t know whether they’re going to become more radicalised as a result of the election or not.
“These are hypothetical questions. I can only deal with the cards I can see at the moment. The cards I see at the moment are a declining ANC below 50%, an opportunity for like-minded opposition parties, if they focus and work well together, to be able to bring a consolidated block of votes to the table, that could just get a majority in the country.
“That’s the cards I can see at the moment, and those are the cards I’m playing like my life depends on it.”
(Graphic: John McCann/M&G)
Asked whether the DA would work with the MK party, Steenhuisen said this was difficult to respond to because the new political movement had not yet published its policies.
He added that the Multi-Party Charter would have to decide whether it could allow the MK party to join the coalition.
He said the party would be an unlikely fit for the pact, if it pursued a radical economic transformation agenda, but added: “I do think the MK are going to be a player in this election. I think there’s a very good possibility they will be the third-largest party in the country after the election.”
“They certainly are doing incredibly well in KwaZulu-Natal. To get 19[%] and then 28% in by-elections shows that they are eating into the ANC, they are eating into the EFF, and they are doing a bit of peripheral eating into the IFP [Inkatha Freedom Party] — they are making ground there.
“And I think they’re going to be an electoral force in this election — but nobody knows what they stand for.
“Remember, it’s an MPC [Multi-Party Charter] decision, not a DA decision. I would be unhappy with it because I think Mr Zuma himself has violated the Constitution and has snubbed his nose at the rule of law, which is why he was sent to prison … because he didn’t respect the courts.
“His behaviour shows he is not interested in upholding the rule of law, defending the Constitution.
“That being said, they would have to make an application and we would obviously assess it. We recently had an application by the Referendum Party and they were overwhelmingly rejected by the charter members because we didn’t feel there was a values and principles fit and we will judge any party that wants to join us based on that,” Steenhuisen added.
The DA leader criticised new entrants, such as Songezo Zibi’s Rise Mzansi and Mmusi Maimane’s Build One South Africa, for going after the DA and its votes in the Western Cape, as this was counterproductive to the mission of weakening the ANC.
“People need to vote for parties in the Multi-Party Charter that are working together to be able to achieve a common set of objectives and to unseat the ANC.
“You shouldn’t be taking shots at parties in the Multi-Party Charter because, let’s say, Mr Zibi now says he wants to be the president, and I think Mr Maimane said he wants to be the president as well. Well, how are you going to be the president with three seats in parliament?” he asked.
“You’re going to have to work with other people and I don’t think it’s a very good opening line to come out and say, ‘Well, we’re going to attack you and then expect you to work with us afterwards.’ That’s not how it works in politics. I’m happy. I trust the parties in the Multi-Party Charter.
“We’re working well together as parties and I think voters should be very suspicious of parties that are not wanting to be part of the single biggest initiative to unseat the ANC and the best electoral chance we’ve had in 30 years.
“Instead of undermining it, they should be working with us to be able to bring the ANC below 50%,” he said.