LETTER: SA’s new political reality

I can’t comprehend why political commentators like Marianne Merten are so surprised by the budget debacle (“GNU must own up to historic failure to table budget”, February 26).

This is the first national coalition government in SA's democratic history. The ANC has to learn to share power for the first time. The DA and others have to learn how to use power they’ve never had before.

Until the budget, the most contentious issues — the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act and National Health Insurance — were carried over from the previous government, and the ANC could make some argument that its coalition partners had to accept it or lump it.

The budget was the first time, ever, that the ANC at national level actually needed the support of other parties to pass anything. So of course this was going to be a messy process. Has no-one looked at coalition governments in the rest of the world?

At one point Belgium didn’t have any national government for more than 12 months as the parties could not agree to form a coalition government. It seems both the ANC and political commentators in SA have to get used to this new reality.

Petrus le Roux
Via BusinessLIVE

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