The secretary of parliament announced yesterday that the transition from the current parliament to the next will cost the taxpayers R58m. Those with smaller horizons may gripe, but they will do so without serious consideration of what the cost of not doing it might be.
The MK party tried to have today’s first sitting of parliament interdicted on the basis of Jacob Zuma’s hurt feelings, which the Constitutional Court dismissed in quick order. The EFF, too, has a long history of disrupting the operations of parliament, actions that align with its anti-constitutional, fascist policies.
At the time of going to press, the rumour mill had it that the party’s leader, Julius Malema, had been on the phone to President Cyril Ramaphosa in an attempt to squeeze into his planned government of national unity. No doubt informed by the sound of slamming doors around the country, this speaks to the party’s almost completely unprincipled approach to policy and power.
We will see whether the ANC has held firm on keeping out of a coalition or minority government parties that show contempt for the constitution, for their compatriots, for the people who voted for them and — through its appalling disruptions in parliament — for the more than 90% of South Africans who did not.
We are better off without them. The EFF and MK do not have an original or useful idea between them. All they bring is noise and distraction, and the new government cannot afford to be fighting foolish internal battles over whether assets should be expropriated by the state on the basis of little more than vibes.
Now is a time for serious people with an appetite for hard work. If, as we expect, Ramaphosa is re-elected as president today with the support of the DA, we have entered what we should consider as a second republic. It is the day we leave the era of liberation politics and, in spite of the vast resources aligned against democracy and social harmony, into an era of coalition government. It’s an astonishing achievement by this feisty, difficult, vulnerable country. We should take a moment to celebrate this.
But, regretfully, only a moment. There is a vast amount of work to be done and the political horse-trading that has been taking place behind the scenes will have come with enormous pressure. Whatever structure of DA/ANC alliance takes shape, it will need to be robust enough to handle the breathtakingly challenging realities that will immediately confront this new government after today’s show of what will no doubt be awkward unity behind the ideals of constitutionalism and the best interest of all South Africans.
This newspaper reports that the National Treasury is warning liabilities associated with the future cost of the procurement of renewable energy have become too large and that a major carmaker has cut a shift, costing 700 jobs in East London and that issues around logistics played a part in its decision. In very little time the next administration will need to be able to do more than agree on how to conduct itself in parliament; it will need to work together on a series of crises running in parallel — in energy, security, education, health, logistics and in joblessness, economic stagnation and municipal services.
It’s the to-do list of our time, and we wish our new government godspeed in getting to grips with it. Our people deserve better.
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