SA’s “centre” unites in historic pact

After two weeks of tense negotiations, Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen announced today (Friday) that an agreement has been signed by his party, the African National Congress (ANC) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) to enter into national government, as well as provincial government in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. In this interview with BizNews, Ray Hartley of The Brenthurst Foundation calls it “a day of tremendous hope”. He describes it as “the good scenario…where there is a gravitation towards the centre and parties that support the Constitution, the rule of law, and boosting economic growth, come together to try and take the country forward”. However, he describes the volatile situation in KwaZulu-Natal as “very worrying” and says: “There is the question of what will MK do finding itself out in the cold in KZN where I think it expected, after getting 45%, to be in government”. As for the future of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), Hartley comments: “They haven't played it well and…I just sense that they're in somewhat of disarray.”

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