Political analyst Andre Duvenage said it was highly unlikely that political parties would have an outright majority in future elections.
Duvenage said the only possibility was seeing parties amalgamate or working closer together, just like the progressive alliance parties in Parliament.
“This means there will be reconfiguration of the political spectrum and at the moment it seems as though the political spectrum is dividing and there are more identities.
“Every election year, more and more parties are entering the political frame and there is fragmentation of the bigger parties - we have seen that in the ANC and with Cope,” he said.
The analyst said the splitting up of parties was now a process, adding that there were also dynamics of the coalitions and alliances.
Duvenage said South Africans may experience more corporation among political parties.
On the progressive alliance, he said one would not exclude it as there was a possibility that it would retain power.
“There are two scenarios: one, ANC with progressive alliance or two, ANC with the middle-ground approach like the current government of National Unity (GNU) predominately, but there is a possibility of the progressive alliance retaining power with the ANC.”
However, Duvenage said it was unlikely that the progressive alliance would be able to retain power under a Ramaphosa-led ANC.
The ANC lost its parliamentary majority in a historic election, which meant South African politics taking a new path for the first time since the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule 30 years ago.
The majority of the political opposition hailed the result as a momentous breakthrough for a country struggling with deep poverty and inequality.
This new, uncharted territory forced the liberation movement into a GNU, and the alliance is not happy with some of the partners.
However, ANC acting spokesperson Zuko Godlimpi said he was confident that its alliance partners, particularly the SACP and Cosatu, would soon change their stance on the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The two partners (SACP and Cosatu) have condemned the ANC’s decision to join forces with what they deemed a party that was not in it for advancing the people’s interests.
The SACP described the DA as “anti-people forces” and said “we will not work with these forces, we will not support any idea to try and work with these forces".
While Cosatu’s Mike Shingange said the 2024 GNU was different from the one in 1994, stating that the old one was mainly serving the country.
He warned that the ANC’s GNU was based on political parties' own interests and not nation-building.
Responding to this, Godlimpi said they would continue to engage with alliance partners until they understand why they joined the GNU, especially with the Democratic Alliance (DA).
“I can promise you this, as time goes on, the alliance will be singing in one tune about the GNU, there’s nothing new about what is happening, eventually we will find each other and have a common understanding,” he said.
Saturday Star
sipho.jack@inl.co.za