Days of GNU are numbered

Next month is the first anniversary of the government of national unity (GNU). But it may be wise to pause before splashing out on celebratory Dom Pérignon.

- William Saunderson-Meyer

Given the fractiousness between the two major partners – the ANC and the DA – it's not a given that the GNU in its present form will survive to 14 June. After all, this was never a Shakespearean marriage of true minds, but rather a forced union between warring houses.

The normal fractiousness of this reluctant relationship between unequal partners appears to be worsening, instead of settling into some kind of uneasy truce with mutual compromises. As in many a teetering marriage, the energies of the feuding spouses appear to be divided between keeping the union limping along and making sure that when it collapses – as they secretly expect – it is the other party that is publicly perceived to be the culprit.

In a new book, Being There: Backstories from the political front, former DA leader Tony Leon recounts in absorbing detail and with remarkable frankness how the GNU negotiations between the ANC and the DA unfolded.