ANC and DA need to grow up for the kids

There must be countless married couples who, though they realised they had nothing in common – or even developed a real loathing for each other – decided to bite the bullet and stay together for the sake of the children.

After all, is it not your prime duty as a parent to give your child the best possible start in life and leave them with the least possible emotional baggage?

In this tempestuous political marriage we call the government of national unity (GNU), there is bound to be a lot of hurt and feelings of betrayal – from both sides – but perhaps the ANC and DA, the bickering parents, should step back and ask themselves: What about the kids?

Despite the ANC’s claims that the DA has been like a snake in the GNU grass – undermining collective decisions and claiming credit for programmes that were already in place, to say nothing about being against transformation – the GNU has, for the first time, given many citizens the sense that an administration is actually going to achieve something tangible.

The ANC is also clearly peeved that the DA tried to claim the moral high ground and cast itself as a protector of the impoverished by opposing the VAT increase.

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Peeved enough, in fact, to ignore the DA’s fact-based budget alternatives.

This is not to say that the DA didn’t overstep. While it may not have put its pressure in writing – so it can now play innocent – there may have been verbal and behind-the-scenes pressures placed on the ANC in an attempt to extract concessions on issues unrelated to the budget.

But it is time to shelve the egos and the hurt … and talk.

There is too much at stake not to.

The GNU’s legacy must not be a traumatised, dysfunctional society.

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