Big trouble for Gauteng

It has been nearly three weeks since ANC leader Panyaza Lesufi was sworn in as the Premier of Gauteng, South Africa’s economic powerhouse.

However, Gauteng remains the only province that has not yet constituted a provincial government—and talks between the two biggest parties, the DA and ANC, have hit a wall.

Lesufi, who rose to the province’s top spot with the DA’s support, has postponed the announcement of his cabinet at least three times.   

This is because the ANC and DA are still at loggerheads over the composition of a government of provincial unity (GPU), largely because of the allocation of portfolios.

Other parties in the legislature have expressed their concern about the delays, saying that the squabbles will hurt investor confidence in the country’s economic hub.

The ANC lost its outright majority in the province in the recent general elections, receiving ~35% of the provincial vote, giving it 28 out of 80 seats in the legislature.

The DA received the second most votes (~28%), giving it 22/80 seats in the legislature.

Given that the ANC could not maintain power on its own at the national level, as well as in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, the party, alongside the DA, signed the statement of intent to co-govern in the national executive and the two provinces mentioned.

While the ANC, DA, and several other parties were able to constitute executives both nationally and in KwaZulu-Natal, the DA says that the ANC in Gauteng is not holding up its end of the bargain and is negotiating “in bad faith.”

On the evening of 2 June, DA federal chairperson Hellen Zille said that another meeting with the ANC had taken place earlier in the day, but no agreement had been reached. 

According to Zille, at the core of the issue, the ANC in the province has offered the DA three out of ten available cabinet seats but would not reveal where the other seven seats would go.

The DA had proposed that it should be given at least four MEC portfolios — infrastructure, education or health, transport and economic development — while the ANC insisted that the party would get three.

“This approach was not conducive to building an atmosphere of trust [and] we wanted clarity on these issues,” she said.

The ANC later conceded that it intended on taking the remaining seven seats for its own members—effectively maintaining a ‘majority government’ position in a province where it no longer held a majority by any measure.

The DA said this contravened clause 16 of the signed declaration of intent of the GNU.

This clause states that the executive should be constituted in a manner that takes into account the number of seats parties part of the statement of intent have in the legislature. Thus far, the DA comprises 45% of the GPU in Gauteng, while the ANC sits at 55%.

However, the proposed cabinet would have seen the ANC make up ~73% of the executive, while the DA got 27%.

“We said, sorry, eight to three is not acceptable,” said Zille.

Zille said that the ANC did agree to go down to seven out of the 11 (including the Premier), and give one seat to the IFP and keep the DA at three.

Zille added that the DA had no problem with the IFP being part of the government in Gauteng, as the IFP was not only the initial signatory to the statement of intent but had also helped the ANC and DA be part of the government in KwaZulu-Natal.

“But it is still widely out of proportion to give the ANC six plus one and the DA three, which is half of what the ANC has got, although we are almost the same size electorally,” said the DA federal chairperson.

“We are not prepared to be co-opted by the ANC on their own terms, acting as if it still has an overall majority in Gauteng, which it does not,” she added.

The ANC, on the other hand, says that the bone of contention lies in the parties that it wants to include in the provincial government.

The DA has said that it will not work with the likes of the EFF and MK Party.

“There are parties the DA is pro, and parties the DA is anti,” said ANC Gauteng secretary TK Nciza.

“The GPU is a concept of the ANC; we are leading it, and we invite other parties to come. Once a party comes and says don’t bring this one [party] or that one, we are not going to agree to that,” Nciza said.

“This is the economic hub of the country, it will be contested. Gauteng is like a country; that’s why it’s highly contested,” he added.

DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said that the DA remains “open to engaging with the ANC.”

“Whether there was a sense that this is the end of the road, certainly from our end, we don’t take it that is the case. But if it is the end of the road on their side, then it will be the end of the road. We will take our opposition seat, and we’ll see what happens,” said Msimanga.

IFP secretary-general in Gauteng Alco Ngobese told the Daily Maverick that the party is “deeply concerned — these delays are unnecessary. The ANC and DA need to put their egos aside and put the residents of Gauteng first. Gauteng is the country’s economic hub — if things go on like this, it might even affect investor confidence.” 

Read: Who controls what: How government has been split among the ANC, DA and other parties