- The author argues that powerful business interests influenced the formation of the ANC-DA coalition, rather than the electoral choices of voters.
- The partnership has weakened the DA’s opposition role and left the ANC unable to pursue a coherent political and economic programme.
- Johannesburg’s coalition negotiations could reproduce the same arrangement, with voters once again having little influence over the outcome.
There is a deal that has already been made. Not in Luthuli House. Not in the DA Federal Council. In Sandton, in Stellenbosch, in the boardrooms where the cheques are written. The funders have made it clear that the two must sleep together. That is why the DA is a limp opposition, and the ANC is a paralysed party.
Look at South Africa since the 2024 election. For the first time since 1994, we have a so-called Government of National Unity. But let us call it by its real name: an ANC-DA grand coalition. Everything else, such as the PA, IFP, GOOD and Rise Mzansi, is just condiments. The main meal is the ANC and the DA.
Why did this happen? It was not because voters asked for it. No voter went to the ballot and marked “ANC-DA”. Voters punished the ANC down to 40 percent. Voters gave the DA 22 percent. They did not give anyone a mandate to sleep together. The funders did.
How the deal was made
In the three months before the election, big business was terrified. The polls were showing the ANC below 50 percent, the EFF at 11 percent, and the MKP surging. The nightmare scenario for capital was ANC plus EFF plus MKP, a 60 percent black nationalist coalition that would talk about nationalisation of mines, expropriation of land without compensation, and changing the Reserve Bank mandate. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange would have collapsed. The rand would have gone to R25 to the dollar.
So, money moved. White monopoly capital, and yes, it exists even if DA people laugh when you say it, said: “We must force the ANC to choose us. We will punish any other combination.” How? By funding. The DA raised over R300 million, mostly from white donors.
The ANC raised its money from the same donors through Chancellor House and private channels. The message was simple: if you go with the EFF or MKP, the tap turns off, the loans get called, and the rating agencies downgrade you to junk by Monday.
Thus, the grand coalition was born not out of love, but out of fear. The funders have made it clear: you must sleep together to protect the status quo.
What happens when rivals join
And what happens when two people who do not love each other are forced to sleep together? They both become useless. The DA as a limp opposition.
The DA used to be good at one thing: opposition. Helen Zille was a vicious, effective opposition leader from 2008 to 2014. She attacked Jacob Zuma daily. She took the government to court. She exposed corruption at PRASA, at SAA, and at Eskom. You may not have liked her, but she was effective.
Today’s DA cannot oppose. How can John Steenhuisen oppose Cyril Ramaphosa when they sit in the same Cabinet? How can you call the Minister of Electricity corrupt when you are Minister of Agriculture in his government? How can you march against unemployment when your own party is responsible for economic policy?
So the DA has become limp. It cannot talk about crime because Leon Schreiber is Minister of Home Affairs and responsible for immigration, which drives crime perception. It cannot talk about load shedding because the ANC fixed it, sort of. It cannot talk about cadre deployment because it now deploys its own cadres. DA members are now ambassadors, deputy ministers, and board members. They are no longer a party of principle. They are a party of positions.
The worst thing that ever happened to the DA is getting into government. It has exposed them. They have no plan for jobs. They have no plan for townships except to privatise service delivery. Their only plan is: we are not the ANC. But now they are the ANC. They are ANC lite.
In Johannesburg, this limpness will cost them. Zille wants to be mayor as the DA. But how can she say the ANC destroyed Johannesburg when her own national leaders are in coalition with the ANC? How can she say, “The ANC is corrupt,” when she is prepared to go into coalition with the ANC the day after elections if she does not get 50 percent plus one? Voters see through that.
The ANC as a paralysed party
The ANC, on the other hand, is paralysed. The ANC cannot act. It cannot renew. It cannot implement the Freedom Charter. It cannot implement white monopoly capital’s National Development Plan either. It is stuck in the middle.
It cannot go left because its funders, the same funders as the DA’s, will cut it off. If it tries land expropriation, Ramaphosa gets a call from Stellenbosch. If it tries to nationalise the Reserve Bank, Patrice and Johann call.
It cannot go right because its members will revolt. The branches in Mofolo, in KwaMashu, and in Mdantsane still believe in free houses, free education, and fighting white privilege. They still sing “Kill the Boer”, even if the leadership says not to sing it.
So it does nothing. It is a paralysed party. It sits in government, attends summits, commissions reports, but delivers nothing. Look at Johannesburg: ANC in the GNU nationally, ANC in opposition locally, ANC says nothing coherent about either.
The paralysis is ideological and physical. The ANC’s best people are now in government defending DA positions. Its worst people are in branches fighting over T-shirt tenders. There is no middle.
That is why, in Johannesburg, the ANC will get 22 percent. Not because people love the DA more, but because the ANC cannot tell you why you must vote for it. What is the ANC’s promise for Joburg? To fix what it broke? The DA at least has a lie: “We will fix what the ANC broke.” The ANC cannot even lie convincingly.
What the funders want
What funders want is simple: stability without change. They want a government that will not nationalise anything, will not upset property rights, will pay debt, will keep inflation low, and will keep black people calm with SASSA grants. The ANC provides the calm. It can tell black people, “We are still in charge, comrades.” The DA provides the stability. It can tell investors, “We are watching the ANC; they will not steal too much.”
It is a perfect arrangement for capital. It is a terrible arrangement for the African majority. Because the real issues, such as land, ownership of mines, de-industrialisation, and 70 percent youth unemployment, require a strong opposition that can propose alternatives and a strong ruling party that can implement. We have neither. We have a limp opposition and a paralysed ruling party sleeping in the same bed, snoring, while the house burns.
Johannesburg as the test case
In Johannesburg, in the next few weeks, this will become clear. The funders will tell both parties: “Do not bring the EFF; do not bring the MKP. If no one gets 50 percent, you two must form a coalition. You must. Johannesburg cannot become ‘unstable’, meaning Johannesburg cannot become a city where tenders are reviewed and where Sandton’s water and electricity are properly cross-subsidised to Soweto.
So expect an ANC-DA coalition in Johannesburg. They will call it a “Stability Coalition”. They will say they are putting the country before party. They will both pretend they compromised.
But there was no compromise. The deal was made before the votes were counted. The funders decided the two must sleep together. And the two, because they both depend on the same allowance, obeyed.
The only losers will be the voters who thought they had a choice between racist and corrupt, and ended up with both in one bed.
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The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conviction.co.za
