The ANC national executive committee (NEC) was locked in tense discussions until late on Thursday evening as they debated whether the party should go into a coalition with erstwhile political rivals or pursue a government of national unity.
Business Day understands that a potential tie-up with either the DA or the EFF was a sticking point, and ANC chair Gwede Mantashe, who chaired the NEC meeting, allowed all 80 members to make presentations to ensure that all views are aired.
By 8pm, before Business Day went to press, the NEC was leaning towards a government of national unity (GNU), which accommodates minorities.
The envisaged GNU would, however, bear little resemblance to the one that emerged as SA transitioned from apartheid to democracy, the party’s secretary-general, Fikile Mbalula, had said earlier on Thursday.
"The GNU that we talk about might be different from 1994 ... the devil is in the details ... Proposals put here are not cast in stone," Mbalula said outside the NEC meeting.
The ANC is in the unenviable position of balancing an array of demands from the political parties, financial markets and its alliance partners.
SA’s largest labour federation, Cosatu, was not part of the meeting of the ANC’s top brass on Thursday. Its spokesperson, Matthew Parks, said the federation was still finalising its position on the matter.
"Cosatu convened its political commission on Wednesday and will convene its [central executive committee].
"We met the alliance secretariat on Monday and will soon meet the SACP and ANC to share the views of Cosatu and forge a common consensus as Cosatu," Parks said.
"While Cosatu has views on which parties we can and cannot work with, we need to finalise these at the [central executive committee] and then communicate these to our alliance partners."
The ANC’s closed-door meeting is exploring power-sharing options, including a GNU and a "supply and confidence model", in which a minority party could lead parliament, with the ANC controlling the executive.
Financial markets are expected to remain unsettled over the next week or two as coalition discussions progress.
Post-election governing scenarios range from an ANC, DA and IFP coalition, which markets seem to favour due to the promise of more policy reform, stronger implementation and a firm stance against corruption, to a unity government involving the ANC, DA, MK, EFF and IFP. Another possibility is the ANC partnering with its splinter groups, the EFF and MK.
MK, led by former president Jacob Zuma, garnered 14% of the votes in the election. It said it was open to talks with the ANC.
"A meeting is expected to take place soon, where the MK party will hear the views presented with an open mind, while firmly prioritising the inspirations and aspirations of the SA majority and blacks in particular," the party’s Nhlamulo Ndhlela said.
SA’s first GNU was led by the late president Nelson Mandela, with the late FW de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki serving as deputy presidents. It was established in terms of the interim pre-democracy constitution.
The provisions in the interim constitution from 1994-1996 permitted the two largest parties to each appoint a deputy president and provided for all parties who had received at least 20 seats in the national assembly to form part of the GNU (to be allocated cabinet posts proportional to their support), UCT law professor Pierre de Vos said.
Should the ANC once again choose to form a GNU with other parties, "no constitutional amendments are required to form such a government as the president has the power to form the government and can appoint MPs from any political party into his or her cabinet. The election of the president is the only significant legal requirement for the formation of any government and there are no provisions on forming or regulating coalitions in the constitution.
"Such a coalition agreement will be reached between political parties outside the constitutional framework. This raises an interesting but still open question, namely if any coalition agreement would be legally enforceable, and thus whether courts would be empowered to enforce its provisions in the same manner it is permitted to enforce the provisions of political party constitutions," he said.
In its weakest electoral performance since the end of apartheid, the ANC saw its share of the vote fall to 40% in last week’s general election, while the MK party emerged as a significant force.
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