With divorce dangerous, GNU is marriage made in hell

NEXT month is the first anniversary of the Government of National Unity (GNU).

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But it may be wise to pause before splashing out on celebratory Dom Pérignon.

Given the fractiousness over the Budget 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 June 14. That's not entirely surprising, since 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. The ANC, the patriarch who will brook no disagreement in the household, is clearly frustrated that it has been unable to impose its will on its cheekily independent junior partner. As a result, 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 newly released book, former DA leader Tony Leon recounts in absorbing detail and with remarkable frankness how the GNU negotiations between the ANC and the DA, the major partners in what is effectively a two-horse coalition, unfolded. As a member of the DA’s small team of negotiators - Leon kept copious notes of the hectic two-week process, so his account, penned with the assistance of “Captain Hindsight” is a compelling one.