PA leader Gayton McKenzie is likely to rile his ANC local-government bedfellows with his latest antics: he is in Israel learning about coalitions.
So impressed is McKenzie with the political lessons on offer from the Israelis — despite the tumultuous events sparked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to rein in the power of the judiciary — that he is set to return there with all his party’s mayors and would-be mayors.
“What better place to learn about coalitions than from the Israelis, they have far-left parties and far-right parties,” he tells the FM from Israel. “We know in national elections next year the ANC is going to lose seven provinces and the DA will need partners to run the Western Cape.”
He says when they form coalitions, South African parties across the board cannot yet see beyond who gets what position.
But McKenzie, who has met with President Isaac Herzog, has learnt that Israeli coalition partners negotiate every last detail of the arrangement in advance, including budgets, time frames for delivery and whether decisions will be taken through consensus or by fiat by the largest party.
All of it is ironed out before anyone signs on the dotted line.
“Now I see where South Africa is making mistakes,” he says, citing the Joburg administration as the prime case in point.
McKenzie’s attitude to the ANC and DA appears to have mellowed during his stay in Israel.
What I learnt here is that coalitions in the end are a game of the ultimate sacrifice. It is not about the party, it is about how much you are willing to sacrifice for the country
“It is obviously easy to blame the ANC and the DA [when coalitions go wrong] but what I learnt here is that coalitions in the end are a game of the ultimate sacrifice. It is not about the party, it is about how much you are willing to sacrifice for the country, what is best for the country, not what is best for the party,” he says.
“This is key to longevity [of coalitions], instead of the quick wins we are focusing on at home.”
McKenzie is adamant that his party will be a key player in coalitions next year. According to elections analyst Wayne Sussman, by-elections last week confirmed key trends that have emerged since the 2021 local government elections. While by-elections can’t be taken as reliable indicators of how national polls will turn out, they do provide a snapshot in time of sentiment towards a party.
The by-elections this month reflected a continuing resurgence by the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal, where it won a key ward off the ANC and retained another in Nkandla, in Jacob Zuma’s backyard.
Sussman says the polls confounded predictions that voters would desert the ANC in the Free State after the expulsion of Ace Magashule — the party retained four wards in Mangaung municipality after expelling the councillors for having voted with the opposition to oust the ANC council speaker.
And three by-elections in George confirmed that the PA was “becoming a force” in the Western Cape, which has long been dominated by the DA, says Sussman.
“The PA is growing in all parts of the province [Western Cape], it was a very good outcome for them,” he says.
Patricia de Lille’s GOOD lost all three wards in George — two to the DA and one to the PA.
McKenzie says he doesn’t care what the ANC might think of his trip to Israel, which the party condemns as an apartheid state. The ANC government permanently withdrew the South African ambassador in 2019 and downgraded the embassy.
The PA leader says he is a friend of the Israeli people, and if South African politicians feel strongly about isolating the country they should “throw away their cellphones because the batteries are made there” and “stop shopping at Woolies”.
“They must shop at Boxer rather, it’s hypocritical,” he says. “They can criticise me. It doesn’t mean you have to be an enemy of Palestine to be a friend of Israel.”
McKenzie says there is also much to learn in Israel about coping with water scarcity and performing safe circumcisions.
“I want South Africa to be a peacemaker again, and take a neutral stance on Israel too,” he says, referring to Pretoria’s professions of nonalignment on the Ukraine war. “Comparing Israel to apartheid South Africa is to diminish what South Africans went through.”
He accuses local politicians of being hypocritical — condemning Israel by day and taking Israeli money by night. “They want to be politically correct by day ... but I’m not that type. I tell it like it is.”
McKenzie, who previously visited Orania, plans to travel to the occupied West Bank before leaving for El Salvador, to learn how that country has fought gangsterism. Love him or hate him, he is acting like someone getting ready to join the government.
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