SOUTH AFRICA – South Africa’s Democratic Alliance (DA) party has withdrawn from a “national dialogue” initiative after the leader of the party referred to it as nothing more than a “waste of time and money”.
John Steenhuisen said that corruption was plaguing the government, which he blamed on President Cyril Ramaphosa, but stopped short of leaving the coalition. “Nothing will change in South Africa for the better if we keep the same people around the cabinet table who have involved themselves in corruption,” Steenhuisen said during a news conference.
Following last year’s general election, where Ramaphosa’s African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in three decades, it was forced to team up with the DA, the second-biggest party, to form a government called the Government of National Unity (GNU).
The two parties are ideologically different, however. The DA is market-friendly and right-leaning, while the ANC is a centre-left party, leaving the two sides to repeatedly clash over issues such as the budget and Black empowerment laws.
In May Ramaphosa launched a process to unite the country, referred to as a “national dialogue”, to address the most significant issues affecting South Africa, including high unemployment and crime. (Aljazeera)
