ANC, DA confirm meeting to try and save coalition, but offer little detail:
The ANC and Democratic Alliance (DA) on Saturday confirmed a meeting had taken place between the two parties to try and resolve a budgetary impasse that threatens the governing coalition they lead, but gave scant details of the outcome.
In a statement, the ANC said the discussions between its team led by secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and the DA were constructive and reaffirmed its “unwavering commitment to the principles of dialogue, nation-building, and collective leadership in addressing the urgent socio-economic needs of our people”.
“The ANC will continue to engage all GNU (government of national unity) partners, civil society, and other stakeholders in pursuit of a stable, inclusive, and effective government that places the interests of South Africans at the heart of all its decisions,” it added.
In her own statement, DA federal council chairperson Helen Zille also described the talks in Johannesburg as “constructive”, with “both sides speaking respectfully yet frankly about the need to resolve the impasse over the budget and to enhance cooperation between the two parties in the context of the government of national unity”.
She reiterated the party’s position that a VAT increase, which is central to its rejection of the fiscal framework, was unaffordable for South Africans in the absence of meaningful reform that would increase economic growth and create jobs.
A DA source said they expected follow-up talks between the two parties after Saturday’s meeting.
Neither party has shown a willingness to either walk away from the coalition or cede fully to the demands of the other side to end the standoff, which dates back to 19 February when DA leader John Steenhuisen made clear the party would not support a national budget that proposed a two percentage point increase in VAT.
With several ANC ministers also balking at the likely negative effect on the finances of economically-struggling South Africans, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana had to postpone tabling the revised budget in parliament to 12 March, now proposing a lower one percentage point VAT whose implementation would be staggered over two years.
Following heated debate in parliament, and financial committee processes mired in acrimony, the fiscal framework scraped through the National Assembly by a narrow margin on 2 April with the aid of smaller parties, including some outside the governing coalition like ActionSA, after the DA voted against it.
The next day, the party filed a court application to challenge the budgetary process.
The days since have seen a flurry of internal discussions within both parties about the way forward, and the ANC is exploring alliances with other parties outside the coalition such as ActionSA, should the DA opt to walk away, taking its crucial parliamentary votes with it.
A DA source told the Mail & Guardian earlier in the week that sentiment in the party whether to stay or not was deeply divided and shifting daily, with ongoing uncertainty about Zille’s stance. The six DA ministers in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet, formed after his party lost its outright parliament majority in May 2024 general elections, have signalled a willingness to continue working with the ANC.
Except the DA and the Freedom Front Plus, all parties to the government coalition voted in favour of the fiscal framework and sources said many shared in the ANC’s frustration with the continuous conflict in the structure.
Old dog has to learn new tricks:
The world has been engulfed by Trump turmoil. All creatures great and small have been affected, from the penguins on the remote island that have been hit with a 10% tariff if they dare to export their cuteness, to the billionaires who have seen billions lopped off the value of their companies on the stock markets.
Such is the sheer volume of the terrifying, pain-inducing and ludicrous outpourings from the White House that the news websites must surely be thinking of awarding Trump a separate category in the list on their home pages. News, Trump, Politics, Opinion, Sport … Or perhaps Agent Orange would be more appropriate.
Of course, it is us who will suffer the most from this financial disaster — price increases and job losses the most obvious traumas. In these circumstances it would be selfish to dwell on our rapidly worsening problems in the media business. But it is true that for a long time now the idea of job security has been a pleasure from the past.
And as the situation steadily worsens when I wake up from a troubled sleep at 3am with the first thought on my mind being: “I must reinvent myself.” This is really a ridiculous concept because this year I reach the age where I should expect to be presented with the fake gold watch and ushered to the exit door.
The only reinventing I should be doing is deciding whether I want to become an old Greek guy who sits at a table outside one of those idyllic cafes on one of the islands sipping small cups of potent coffee, alongside a glass of even more potent ouzo and nibbling on a plate of olives. The chairs are painted blue and the blindingly white wall is host to a carefully trained bougainvillea covered in magenta flowers.
Or I could reinvent myself as an old geezer sitting on the stoep of one of those quaint old houses in Churchhaven — I think there are still a few that haven’t been renovated by rich business people — gazing over the gentle waters of the Langebaan Lagoon while sipping on a gin and tonic.
I’d better snap out of this train of thought because I will have to keep working until I drop. And if it is not as a journalist then it has to be something else.
Having a side hustle is halfway to a complete reinvention, and I have had a couple of those. A love of plants and gardening was instilled in me by my mother through many hours of slave labour in her garden. Some friends saw that I had some knowledge and skills and asked me to help with their gardens.
Eventually I took the plunge and left journalism to start a landscaping business. Miraculously I found that I could make enough money to support my modest lifestyle, but I lacked the ruthless instincts of a real business person and couldn’t make the step up to earn real money. I had green fingers but couldn’t turn them into greenbacks.
So when I became a father I went back to a salaried job in journalism. With the benefit of hindsight it was not a good idea to call the business Garden Boy. At the time it seemed like a cheeky reference to one of the more ridiculous terms from the recent apartheid past.
As an acquaintance, who had a very important government job and knew many of Joburg’s wealthier citizens, said: “You don’t expect Patrice Motsepe to give you a job with a name like that, do you?”
More recently I turned another one of my hobbies into a side hustle. This time it was my love of scouring second hand shops for what some people might call old junk but others see as treasure. And this occupation has many names as well: the slightly insulting “smous”, the plain old “collectibles trader” and the more fancy “antiques dealer”.
I had a stall once a month at a carboot sale in Benoni. It was fascinating to become a part of this world of eccentric traders and obsessive collectors. I discovered I had shrewd instincts about what people wanted (old bottles, wooden tool boxes, vintage tools, bits of wrought iron, pot plants) and some previously undiscovered skills as a salesperson.
“You’ve just got a lot of shit, and people are buying it,” said the envious guy with the stall next to me.
I spent my spare time scouring charity shops, auctions and fetes for stuff to resell. The thrill of the hunt was addictive and to unearth a rare item for a bargain price was exhilarating.
Probably my greatest moment was finding a signed, numbered print by the South African poet and artist, Wopko Jensma. It was on the floor of a dingy charity shop in Rosettenville and I paid R30.
Another great find was a seat from a Johannesburg tram sitting forlornly in the garden of a Bedfordview home for older people. The seat could be flipped over so when the tram turned for home on its journey the seat always faced forward. Then there was the vintage South African Railways wooden workbench with the original solid metal vice.
With a bit of hard work these side hustles could be revived and provide some much-needed income. But perhaps I should tap into my extensive collection of vinyl records and become a DJ. I do know some older gentlemen who have made a success of this, and as the Reba McEntire/Destiny’s Child (take your pick) song says, “I’m a survivor.”
Trump to snub November G20 summit in SA, again citing so-called persecution of whites:
The department of international relations and cooperation has pushed back against a fresh attack from United States President Donald Trump, who signalled he would boycott the G20 summit in South Africa in November, again falsely accusing the country of persecuting white farmers.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have already boycotted G20 meetings ahead of the summit of heads of state, in a clear indication that the US will seek to undermine South Africa’s presidency of the economic grouping for its year-long duration.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump asked rhetorically how he could be expected to attend the G20 in South Africa “when land confiscation and genocide is the primary topic of conversation?”
“They are taking the land of white farmers, and then killing them and their families. The media refuses to report on this. The United States has held back all contributions to South Africa. Is this where we want to be for the G20? I don’t think so!”
In a brief response, the international relations department said the government was compelled by the Constitution to protect the rights of all citizens, regardless of their race.
“South Africa belongs to all those who live in it. Our Constitution protects people not because they are black, not because they are white, not because they are in the majority, not because they are in the minority, but because they are human beings, every person has fundamental rights,” spokesperson Chrispin Phiri told the Mail & Guardian.
Trump first took aim at Pretoria in early February, announcing on Truth Social that he was cutting all aid to South Africa because it was “confiscating land and treating certain classes of people very badly”. He also offered sanctuary in the US to Afrikaners he claimed were the targets of the land policy.
This was a clear reference to the Expropriate Act signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa in late January. Ramaphosa’s office said at the time that Trump had based his decision on a misreading of the Act, which was not a confiscation instrument, but rather aimed to ensure public access to land in an equitable and just manner.
Pretoria says the relentless attacks from Washington since then, have been fuelled by a campaign of misinformation from the likes of Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum and South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump ally who has also been critical of his country of birth.
In February Rubio snubbed a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in South Africa, accusing Pretoria of using its presidency to promote an agenda alien to that of Washington. Later that month, Bessent also skipped a G20 finance ministers’ meeting.
International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola was in Greece on Saturday at the start of a working visit during which he will attend the Delphi Economic Forum. The department said in a statement that Lamola would outline South Africa’s priorities as G20 president, “championing Africa’s role in shaping a more equitable and sustainable global future”.
“Our presidency prioritises bridging the gap between developed and developing economies, ensuring that Africa’s vast potential in green industrialization, youth innovation, and sustainable trade is unlocked through equitable partnerships,” Lamola said in the same statement.
To drive his point home against South Africa in his latest Truth Social post, Trump attached a video clip compiling public comments by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema in which he criticised whites — a common refrain of his — including one in which he led a chant of the controversial “Kill the Boer, the farmer” slogan at a rally.
The constitutional court last month dismissed an application by AfriForum for leave to appeal previous rulings which found that Malema‘s chanting of the slogan did not amount to hate speech.
Malema has previously defended himself against the accusation, insisting that the chants — a relic of the struggle against apartheid — “should not be interpreted literally, but within the context of the struggle and the political message that it sought to agitate”.
On Saturday, the EFF accused Trump of using his latest attacks against South Africa as an attempt to “distract the public from the mess he has created globally with his uneducated reciprocal tariff system” — a reference to the US president’s punitive tariffs against trading partners which he has now postponed for 90 days after they triggered panic about the global economy, roiling financial markets.
“The EFF takes serious exception to Donald Trump’s connection of his false claims of land confiscations and a genocide against white South African families with the president of the EFF,” the party said in a statement.
“The EFF would like to tell the tariff wielding barbarian that he would be lucky to still be president of the United States by the time the G20 summit occurs in South Africa, following his recklessness and economic illiteracy, which has plunged the US economy into a recession and launched them into a trade war with China and Europe.”
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