We must draw lessons from Brazil on coalitions, says Mantashe

ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe says there is a lot to learn from Brazil and its handling of coalition governments.

Mantashe said Brazil's management of coalition governments was of interest to the ruling party because the South American country has no majority party governing in its political landscape.

“There they piece together ideas of various parties and it gave us a very powerful lesson. What works there is mutual respect for each other. If you respect others and they do not respect you, that arrangement will not work. It is quite important for us to learn from Brazil,” he said.

ANC officials met this morning with Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva and his delegation on the sidelines of the 15th Brics Summit in Sandton, Gauteng.

The parties met to discuss political ties between the ANC and Brazil’s governing Workers' Party, and other issues of mutual interest.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said the meeting focused largely on interparty challenges and how to survive under difficult circumstances.

“What we perceive which is not in Brazil is a grand coalition. President Lula [da Silva] won the election and worked with other political parties to win. The main opposition party in Brazil is the party of [Jair] Bolsonaro [Brazil's former president],” said Mbalula.

South Africa has a multiparty system.

Mbalula said they raised the issue of the possible expansion of Brics and briefed Da Silva on the Brics Plus dialogue that was held.

“We have informed him of some important resolutions we took and he said possible expansion and de-dollarisation would form part of the discussions. It is a very complex issue but we are determined to look at it and they will look at it from the level of the heads of states,” he said.

The ANC was interested in how Brazil succeeded through its difficult period and recovered, he said.

“Brazil underwent a difficult period where many of its programmes implemented to fight poverty faced assault by the political party that lost power.  They are back to that plan of fighting poverty and the ANC government is also trying to reverse poverty among our people.”

The ruling party also reaffirmed its position on anti-imperialism and on working towards a multipolar world, Mbalula said.

Mantashe said another topic of discussion was Brics functions and progress. He said the conglomerate was home to 42% of the world's population but only contributed 32% of its GDP. 

“That gap between the two reflects the level of development in these countries. That is what we should be closing. The focus on poverty and unemployment is important for all these countries,” he said.

When they invite investment, poverty and unemployment would be the focus, he added.

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