South Africa's GNU conundrum

In what was supposed to take a matter of a few weeks is fast approaching to be a month, if not more, as disagreements between the two main political parties, the African National Congress (ANC) and Democratic Alliance (DA), suggests a stalemate even before actual governance can take place clearly showing the drawback of this GNU which is seen by many as the best case option for South Africa. The very fabric and foundation of post-aparthied South Africa is rooted in multi-party conglomeration as was the case 30 years ago with an actual GNU taking place between a variety of different political parties with clear diverse historical, economical and social ideologies. South Africa's democratic system appears to be asking for the same. However in as much as the new political arrangement has been termed a GNU, in reality it is a coalition government as clearly the consensus is between two political parties. All other parties, minor in comparison to the ANC and DA, are merely spectators and gap fillers. One of the main key points of contention is the DA demanding more positions than the ANC is willing to give. These include the positions of Deputy President, Minister in the Office of the Presidency and Deputy Finance Minister. This has made the DA be viewed as over bearing and demanding by its opponents or frenemies in the GNU (I call them frenemies because they are still willing to work with the DA as there are some areas of common interest) and they raise very legitimate points as the DA received 22% of the vote against the ANC's 40%. There is also a concern from the ANC that there could be a pushback of the “levers of economic redress”. An important point to note is that not all ANC members are in support of it and includes senior ANC members such as Lindiwe Sisulu, who is part of the ANC's National Executive Committee, to name a few.

The DA's position also garners support as the DA has been commended in stabilising areas they have governed such as Tshwane/Pretoria as argued by Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink and running the Western Cape effectively and they want to bring this form of good governance to the GNU, hence advocating for those said positions.
What is fascinating is how the coalition provincial government in the KwaZulu-Natal province is effectively in shape (not without its own internal issues) despite at one point the province being ear-marked to be controlled by Former President Jacob Zuma's MK party with its policies likely to chase investment according to some analysts and a likelihood of Zuma controlling the province unilaterally which surprisingly did not happen and perhaps this government of provincial unity can be replicated in the GNU as a stepping stone as the GNU reaches its '11th hour' before its hopeful but likely contentious formation as disagreements have emerged which is expectant in such arrangements where different political parties with their own views attempt to merge together for the sake of national unity. Perhaps the GNU which would be the second time the country would be having such an arrangement could look back to its first one in 1994 as a guide to the next step forward.