South African opposition parties cool on Cyril Ramaphosa’s unity government plan

South Africa’s opposition parties have given a cool reception to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s proposal for a government of national unity, with the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters saying his party could never “share power with the enemy” and Jacob Zuma’s party saying Ramaphosa must resign before talks can start.

The EFF, the fourth-largest party, which got 9.5 per cent of the vote, appeared to rule itself out of any unity government after its leader Julius Malema hit out at the ANC for what he called its “arrogance” in making such a proposal.

The third-largest, Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party founded just six months ago, said it would not negotiate while Ramaphosa, with whom Zuma has a personal vendetta, remained president.

“How do we engage with a party run by an individual who has implemented no policies for years,” Nhlamulo Ndhlela, MK spokesperson, told the Financial Times.

The Democratic Alliance, the second-biggest party with just under 22 per cent of the vote, has said it will not enter into a coalition with parties that rejected the constitution, which include the EFF and MK.

But Helen Zille, DA chair, was on Friday more pragmatic, telling the FT: “Our doors are open, and we’ll be part of any government that meets our framework of principles.”

Ramaphosa said late on Thursday that a unity government was his preferred option, after the ANC obtained just 40.2 per cent of the vote in last week’s election, pushing it into a minority for the first time since free elections in 1994.

“In establishing a government of national unity, we will be drawing on an experience with which South Africans are familiar and which served our country well at a time of great difficulty,” he said, referring to the first government formed after apartheid, which included the incoming ANC, the incumbent National party and the Inkatha Freedom party.

Jonny Steinberg, a South African author, said many ANC members rejected an alliance with the DA, which they saw as a white, neo-liberal party. They saw warnings from some economists that markets would plummet if the ANC did a deal with the EFF as “blackmail”, he said.

Ramaphosa’s reasons for proposing a grand alliance was that he feared splitting the party, according to Steinberg. But in trying to save the ANC, he had accelerated the collapse of its vote from 57.5 per cent in 2019.

“The problem with Cyril is he plays the long game so much he forgets to play the short game,” Steinberg said.

The DA has set out five principles for its participation in a coalition government, according to a three-page internal document seen by the FT, including the “promotion of the constitution”, which includes protecting the independence of the central bank.

But many of these policies are in direct conflict with positions held by the MK party, which has proposed scrapping the constitution, and the EFF, which has advocated nationalising the central bank and the mines.

“This suggests a government of national unity would be a non-starter,” said a senior figure in the DA. “But if the EFF and MK party decide they will not be part of such a government, then including the DA would still be a feasible option.”

But Sipho Seepe, a political analyst, was sceptical of Ramaphosa’s proposal, saying it fitted a pattern of him avoiding difficult decisions.

“It’s a cop-out. The ANC wanted to avoid choosing between the parties on its left, and those on its right. This indecisiveness is vintage Ramaphosa,” he said.

“All these parties have totally different policy trajectories so even if they were to try and form a unity government, there will be quarrelling and you can expect it to fall apart,” he said. “This simply postpones a decision that the ANC will have to take anyway at a later point.”