Post-election coalition ‘won’t work’ for ANC, says Mokonyane

The ANC is betting on keeping its parliamentary majority in the May 29 general election, and is not in talks with other parties on a coalition government, says the party’s deputy secretary-general.

“We will not go to war having accepted defeat. We are going to war to win,” ANC veteran Nomvula Mokonyane told Reuters in an interview. The ANC knew that the “stakes are high because not everybody is comfortable with us in power”. 

According to surveys, the ANC is likely to lose its parliamentary majority for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to power at the fall of apartheid 30 years ago. This would open up the prospects of coalition rule.

“A coalition government won’t work for now,” said Mokonyane, pointing to failed power-sharing attempts at the local government level, where coalitions are said to have largely proved unstable due to lack of legislation to regulate the partnerships. 

But the ANC is open to working with anyone as long as they agree on “the task at hand”, said Mokonyane.

The ANC’s image was tarnished in the past decade by economic stagnation, rising unemployment and repeated corruption scandals involving its top officials.

Analysts say losing its majority might jolt the party to do better on service delivery, expand the economy and address other ills such as crime and corruption. But coalitions could also end up being fractious and impeding already poor service delivery.

Possible coalition partners for the ANC may include the DA and the EFF. 

Mokonyane said the ANC learnt from its mistakes, such as extending the electricity network to more people without boosting generation capacity or investing in renewables. 

Thirty years after the end of white minority rule, more than 30% of South Africans are unemployed, the murder rate is rising, and income inequality is among the highest in the world.

“We are quite certain that with our challenges and imperfections, those happened because we’re doing something that was never done,” said Mokonyane.

She criticised foreign ownership of land and mineral resources and said the ANC would do more to put national interests first, while emphasising progress it made in areas such as social welfare and girls’ education.

“The inequality that we see... it’s very stubborn,” she said. “We’ve tried to turn it around, and 30 years is not a (long) enough period to turn things around.”

Reuters