After the Bell: Why the ANC went with the DA and not the EFF

South Africa continues to amaze me. If you had asked me to bet two weeks ago on whether the ANC would go in with the DA or the EFF, I would have given you 10:1 odds they would go with the EFF. If you had asked me two weeks ago if the DA would go into a full, proportional coalition with the ANC, I would have given you 10:1 against. And the reason is simple: whenever I see politicians in action, I default to pessimism. And yet, SA’s politicians have once again shocked us all with their common sense and maturity. Who would have thunk it?

So, why did the ANC go with the DA, which both they and their allies have castigated as retrogressive and representative of the old order, instead of the EFF - the emotional preference for most members of the ANC’s NEC? And equality, why did the DA give up its hallowed role as the "official opposition" to fully participate in government?

In truth, at this point fresh from the events of yesterday and last night, the participants will speak for themselves, so I am just speculating here. But I suspect it is analogous to five words spoken by the lead figure Logan Roy in the TV series Succession. Roy was the patriarch in a huge media empire (loosely based on Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp empire) and Roy’s three children - Kendall, Roman, and Siobhan - were constantly fighting among themselves and with their ageing father about who would run the organisation when he stepped down.

The battles inside the organisation were septic to the point of loathsomeness; it was a fantastic series. Eventually, the three kids sorted out their enormous differences and confronted their father to wrest control of the company from his tyrannical grip. They have a showdown and he says “I love you, but you are not serious people.” And walks out. Drama!

The DA and the ANC are divided by enormously different ideologies and histories. But what joins them is this: if the SA economy does not improve, the ANC will definitely lose more power than they have already and the party's historical mission will be defunct. And the past 12 months since the joint ANC-business efforts at restoring and fixing SOE Transnet (maybe giving them a taste for collaboration) have been enormously successful. Going in with the EFF would risk all that progress. And the reason is that the EFF are not serious people.

It was so interesting to me that the EFF instantly recognised this harsh fact. All the shouting down of the president, all the antics in Parliament, all the detestable reverse racism, all the political grandstanding, and what happened this election? The EFF lost votes. More than that, the EFF now has competition for the prize of the most wacko economics from the MK party.

So, adept politicians that they are, the EFF decided that they would not try to disrupt Parliament this time; they would nominate their candidates in a mature way and accept defeat. Great choice, because this is the first step towards becoming serious people.

For President Cyril Ramaphosa, who had to endure the personal indignity of having his State of the Nation speeches repeatedly heckled live on national television, this must have been an especially satisfying moment. Karma is a bitch. Ramaphosa has proved an indecisive president, but since negotiations are his happy space, he managed this round brilliantly, as you might expect. The EFF was reduced to calling a belated press conference on the day of the inauguration of Parliament “demanding" to meet with the ANC. They were ignored; they were busy. Ramaphosa gave them a chance to join a government of national unity; they turned him down because belligerence is their forte. And that’s the price you pay if you are not serious people. And now, in the face of their anger at ending up on the sidelines, he has the perfect retort: I offered, you said no.

Now, of course, this agreement between the ANC and DA is extremely fragile. As many have pointed out, the DA’s legislative agenda and that of the ANC are enormously different. But let's, for a second, (double) cross that bridge when we get to it and savour the moment. The incredible has happened: former foes have reached across the political divide for the sake of the nation. Honestly, what a fabulous nano-second in history.

They have done their country proud, and we should bestow our greatest honour and describe them thus: They are serious people.