DA takes GNU in its stride

Now that the DA is inside the government of national unity (GNU) political tent alongside the ANC and others, it can no longer, as former US president Lyndon B Johnson put it, piss on the entire concept from outside. We’ve already seen some interesting evidence of that in the DA’s attitude to the recent local and provincial government chaos. ALSO READ: Instability in metros ‘won’t sink GNU’, says DA Omitted from the Gauteng provincial government of unity and then having had the mayorship of Tshwane whipped from under its feet, the DA has not thrown its toys out of the cot, as one might have expected.

Those developments would have been considered a GNU deal-breaker by the old, unwoke DA. But, as they say in politics, if you don’t like my principles, make me an offer and I’ll come up with a set you’ll find more palatable..



. It is in the area of foreign policy where it will be interesting to see whether the DA, now part of a governing coalition, modifies its position on Ukraine and Israel to be less Western-aligned, in keeping with the views of the rest of the GNU. Speaking with one voice, however, is essential if the GNU is to come across as a real administration, not a veneer of one.

ALSO READ: ‘Rocky moment for national government’ as ANC-DA tension builds.