Macpherson: DA, ANC have to do things better for GNU coalition to work
Dean Macpherson is one of six DA members who are in the national Cabinet for the first time in the country’s democratic history.
Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - Reflecting on his one year as the public works minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU), Dean Macpherson said that both the Democratic Alliance (DA) and African National Congress (ANC) had to do things better for the coalition to work.
Macpherson is one of six DA members who are in the national Cabinet for the first time in the country’s democratic history.
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The GNU came as a result of the ANC losing its national majority in the 2024 general elections.
The GNU has faced some rocky moments; however, it has remained largely intact.
The two largest parties in the GNU, the ANC and the DA, have repeatedly fallen out, namely over the budget and the firing of the DA’s Andrew Whitfield as deputy minister of trade.
In an interview with EWN, Public Works Minister Dean Macpherson said this was largely expected as this was the country’s first-ever national coalition.
"I think there are things both parties could be doing better, and I think they need to contemplate how to do that and that no party can singularly get its way; there needs to be compromise."
Macpherson said there needed to be a coalition agreement drawn up and agreed upon by all GNU partners, saying that the statement of intent had proved ineffective.