DA's Steenhuisen eases back on contentious comments about working with ANC

DA leader John Steenhuisen appears to have backtracked from last week’s comment about possibly forming a coalition government with the ANC should the moment come after 29 May.

Mail & Guardian quoted Steenhuisen saying a DA-ANC coalition was not off the table.

The comment set tongues wagging with people accusing the DA of not being committed to removing the ANC from power.

The comments led ActionSA national chairperson Michael Beaumont to say that, “South Africans must punish parties that speak with forked tongues about the ANC”.

“Any party in the Multi-Party Charter (MPC) that ‘entertains any working arrangement or co-governing arrangement with the ANC’ is in breach of Section 7.1.2 of the Charter agreement that they signed.”

The section states that signatories of the MPC commit to not engaging in any working arrangements or co-governing agreements with the ANC, EFF, or any rival formations. There is no punishment for parties in the MPC who choose not to abide by this but Beaumont said the DA would want such agreements to be binding in court.

South Africans must punish parties that speak with forked tongues about the ANC.

Any party in the Multi-Party Charter that "entertains any working arrangement or co-governing arrangement with the ANC" is in breach of the Section 7.1.2 of the Charter agreement that they signed. pic.twitter.com/fOvBbA63cf

— Michael Beaumont (@ME_Beaumont) April 8, 2024

The upcoming elections, which many describe as South Africa’s most contested yet, indicate that anything could happen. The governing ANC, from all fronts, is undoubtedly facing an electoral support decline, but how much of a decline is still what lingers on everyone’s mind.

The possibility of a coalition government nationally is plausible. This led to a national dialogue, facilitated by Deputy President Paul Mashatile in August 2023, to put ground rules in place for forming coalitions.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Countdown to May 29 polls – SA’s political contest heats up after some parties cast doubt on IEC

No matter what the outcome of the elections will be, the ANC, even if it receives below the 50+1 majority required to form a government, will likely receive the biggest chunk of the votes.

Polls and political commentators also believe that the MPC, which the DA is part of, will get well below 50% of the votes.

Speaking to Daily Maverick on the sideline of the party’s Western Cape manifesto launch on Saturday, Steenhuisen declined to give a straight answer as to whether he was indeed open to forming a coalition with the ANC should the opportunity present itself.

“The DA is 100% committed to getting the Multi-Party Charter over 51% of the vote,” he said. “That is my sole focus. I meet every week with the leaders of the MPC to plot the way forward about how we can bring an alternative to South Africa and we are rolling out policies on a weekly basis.”

Steenhuisen added that he does not believe that keeping the same party in government would take the country forward.

Read more in Daily Maverick: IFP open to possibility of government of national unity, says Velenkosini Hlabisa

The DA is not the only party to have contemplated the possibility of forming a government with the ANC.

EFF leader Julius Malema, speaking to JJ Tabane on his Frank Dialogue podcast on YouTube last week, said if the ANC gets below 50% he would be willing to bargain EFF votes with the ANC, but only if they make his deputy Floyd Shivambu finance minister.

Winde for premier 

Alan Winde will have another shot as premier of the Western Cape. On Saturday, he set out, in detail, the DA’s successes as the Western Cape government and why the party has consistently emerged as the best-performing provincial government in South Africa.

If elected again, he pledged to create 800,000 new jobs, fight crime with 1,300 law enforcement officers, Rural Safety Units and K9 Units and cut rolling blackouts by four stages.

“The Western Cape was rescued from the ANC back in 2009. In that time, the DA has shown the rest of South Africa that it is possible to build a government that works.

“To keep delivering to the people of the Western Cape, the DA calls on every registered voter in the province to vote for us on 29 May 2024.”

The party also went on the offensive against other parties contesting it in the province, with Steenhuisen saying the biggest risks to continued progress were complacency and the political opportunists in small parties. These include Patriotic Alliance, Rise Mzansi, Good Party and the National Coloured Congress.

“Why are they coming to the Western Cape? If they get that right, it’s gonna be the biggest bank heist you’ve ever seen,” said Steenhuisen.

“Why are they running around trying to break the one DA province that, over the past five years, has created four out of every five net new jobs in the whole [of] South Africa? Why are these parties obsessed with targeting this province — the only province that works, where the 1,200 law enforcement officers deployed under the ground-breaking Leap programme have already made 27,000 arrests.”

Rise Mzansi Western Cape premier candidate Axolile Notywala responded to Steenhuisen’s comments calling it a “racist rant”.

“We really must call out this rant from Steenhuisen for what it is: Swart gevaar and racist! The insinuation that we’re campaigning in the Western Cape to steal is racist. The four parties he mentions here are parties led by or with premier candidates that are not white.”

Notywala said he partly believes Rise Mzansi’s refusal to join the MPC might be the reason why Steenhuisen made the remarks.

“We have always maintained that we will listen to all the parties that want to talk to us but we are not going to form any pre-coalition arrangements. It does not make sense for us to be forming coalitions before the voters have decided whether to give us a chance or not.” DM