South Africa: will the coalition hold?

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00A calm start to the first session of Parliament post the 7th National Democratic Elections

00:06held on 29 May in South Africa.

00:09The official opposition party, the DA, today confirming it is part of the Government of

00:12National Unity, has also confirmed the PA, while the IFP confirmed earlier this week.

00:19And while the way forward is clear enough for South Africa, as the DA's advisor Tony

00:23Leon says, there could be obstacles.

00:26Close optimism is the watchword.

00:28And whether it's more caution or more optimism will be determined.

00:33Because what's happened now is really just a framework, but what's going to happen is

00:41how the parties behave towards each other.

00:44South Africa has only had two years of power sharing ever, between 1994 and 1996.

00:50That did not work out.

00:52We've just got to hope second time lucky.

00:55While analyst Lawson Naidoo is slightly more optimistic.

00:59Everybody can't be part of it because there has to be an agreement at some level, agreement

01:05on common principles and common vision.

01:07And some of the parties find themselves out of that framework and therefore are excluding

01:12themselves in a way.

01:14But it is going to create tension, but I think it will take some time for it to settle down

01:18because at the end of the day we need a good stable government, but we also need an opposition

01:24in parliament that keeps that government on its toes.

01:27And the IFP's Velenkosini Hlabisa raises another concern.

01:31No, no, no.

01:32I'm not expecting any unrest in Wazulu Natal because even yesterday the chief negotiator

01:38of the MK, Obamu Ntlego, confirmed that the discussions will be ongoing.

01:45Concerns about possible protests are not unfounded.

01:47There was at least one in Cape Town this morning, unhappy that the parliamentary sitting was

01:52going ahead as planned, despite Jacob Zuma's attempts to stop it.

Category

Transcript

Recommended