By Simon Nare
DA National Assembly chief whip George Michalakis has described the relationship between the party and the ANC in the Government of National Unity as healthy, despite the butting of heads in the administration and disagreements on policies.
During a media briefing to take stock of the year, Michalakis said on Monday there needed to be healthy debates between the GNU partners and that the country was put first.
He added that given the outcome of the May elections, the multi-party coalition was the best option.
He said the partners should be able to debate and challenge each other openly and claimed there was no longer an effective opposition since the DA had become part of the government.
“Politics by its definition is conflict and it’s a good thing that should be encouraged. Not every bit of small conflict between the DA and the ANC is a catastrophe for the GNU and it is not going to mean the end of the GNU and I think we have seen that in the last few months.
“You might have seen the past few weeks when passing the various budget bills, the EFF and MKP collectively had 35 members in the house as an opposition. In my view the opposition in South Africa has all but collapsed. They are not an effective opposition. They are not a present opposition in Parliament,” he said.
Michalakis said what has transpired since the 7th administration was that the opposition benches have largely been empty with the EFF and MK Party not showing up.
Bizarrely, DA deputy chief whip Baxolile Nodada told the same briefing that despite the party being part of the government, it would continue to play the oversight tole that it has played over the years as the opposition.
Nodada said in the past six months, Parliament had had to choose to either be a Parliament of breakers or one of builders. The DA had chosen to be part of the latter.
The party said it had scored some victories even as part of the GNU, but stressed that in the coming year it would be focusing on budgets to ensure there was economic growth and job creation.
“Millions of South Africans are unemployed and live below the poverty line and ultimately the only way they can uplift themselves out of poverty is to make sure that the work that we do in Parliament (is to make) sure that there is economic growth and jobs,” said Nodada.
Reflecting on the GNU, the DA said it had grown from a party of opposition to a party of government.
“We have also grown our number of seats in the National Assembly by three to a total of 87. We hold 12 seats in the NCOP (National Council of Provinces)
“Despite being in government, the DA has continued to be the party that asked the most written questions, substantially more than our share of representation in both Houses. We drove key issues… and we have started the process of strengthening Parliament’s hand as an independent arm of the state.
“A Parliament that functions optimally is a beautiful thing: a monument to liberal democracy and our shared values. We now have the opportunity to ensure that it is strengthened and thrives for generations to come,” it said.
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