Coalition talks are a messy business. They are complex and deceptive; what is said in public is hardly a reflection of what is happening behind closed doors. Raising the possibility of an election rerun was a clever, albeit risky, move by President Cyril Ramaphosa to help his party gain some leverage after the main players declared it persona non grata. Strategies to extract the maximum benefit are always at play in coalition talks.This was the case in 2016, when the EFF, for instance, held lengthy talks with the ANC but ended up agreeing to give key metros to the DA to punish the governing party for failing to yield to its demands — which included the departure of the then president Jacob Zuma. At the time, Zuma was unassailable in the ANC, despite the slow, steady — and suddenly rapid — decline in support the party suffered during his tenure.As an aside, it is a bit rich for Zuma to call, as he did, for the party’s current leaders to be held to account for the ANC’s performance in...
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