A government of national unity is used in extraordinary times, not when the incumbent party loses an election. Ramaphosa presented the county in crisis because the ANC lost the majority. But then the ANC has always conflated party and state.
Mainstream media analysts credit Ramaphosa personally with the GNU, describing it as a masterstroke. Shaking off recent disappointment, their Ramaphoria is reborn. Ramaphoria 2.0. The supreme "negotiator" is back, they say. That the ANC's centre went into coalition with centre-right DA is due to his genius.
It's irrelevant the EFF and MK made this possible with their predictably provocative demands. Had they not, the ANC's partners would have been them. So must we thank Ramaphosa's putative genius or EFF's and MK's stupidity for us not having ruinous coalition? Doesn't matter to the Ramaphorias.
From Ramaphosa's inauguration speech, the clamour project positive things for the GNU, though based on a coalition of incompatible ideologies, modus operandi and (mostly) ethics. In this heady moment, excessively compared to 1994, they wax poetical that he inspires us: "cometh the hour, cometh the man".
But when has any politician, no matter how well-intentioned and competent, delivered on his promises? In South African especially?
The inconvenient truth is despite immense, if naive, goodwill shown him during his tenure, Ramaphosa delivered nothing - not numerous promises of investment, growth and jobs. Not reducing cabinet and government waste. Not eradicating corruption in government and ANC (What's Phala Phala?, as the DA now also asks). Ramaphorias too eventually realised he's a failure and SA worsened under him. He even did the unthinkable and lost the ANC the election which his reviled predecessor did not.
He ought to be out on his ear, not feted. But in the GNU euphoria, all is forgiven and forgotten.
Sober people - experts and citizens, when they're not drowned out by GNUphoria - know SA is a near failed state. Merely rearranging the cabinet's complexion shall not be enough. Realistically, it shall take five years to stabilise the damage of the past fifteen years. Another ten to begin the recovery process. It's going to be difficult, more so than post-1994 because now state institutions are dysfunctional or damaged beyond redemption. Any setback, mistake or dithering as we've had under Ramaphosa and SA shall be a failed state by 2030. That's a real prediction based on social and economic indicators.
I don't agree with GNUphorias that this form of government is optimal or desirable. I agree it's there to "rescue" the ANC, not country (they want to redeem themselves for the next elections). To the ANC, and Ramaphosa, the party always comes first.
A GNU, particularly when it's unnecessary like now, makes governing more of a circus - juggling many parties' agendas rather than the country's. It's a challenge holding a few parties together, but ten? (The Ramaphosa/ANC way to dilute responsibility and decision-making.) Really, what contribution can, and should, zero percent parties (eg GOOD) make in the executive when voters did not give them the mandate.
What we have now are parties hovering around the GNU - out of self-interest rather than to do good - like flies over a wildebeest carcass. Therefore, it's fitting that herding - if that's the correct verb - the swarm is the buffalo farmer himself.
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