South Africa: The Deal - - SA Leadership and How It Fashioned a GNU Born 'With Forceps'

28 October 2025
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
By Marianne Thamm

Veteran journalist and author Mandy Wiener's just-published, The Deal: Inside the Talks that Shaped South Africa's Future, captures the remarkable machinations behind the formation of South Africa's second multiparty government.

Veteran journalist and author Mandy Wiener's just-published, The Deal: Inside the Talks that Shaped South Africa's Future, captures the remarkable machinations behind the formation of South Africa's second multiparty government.

This is the new country in which we find ourselves today. This is the upside of the downside currently being revealed at the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and Parliament's ad-hoc committee hearing into SAPS graft.

With the keen eye of the veteran political chronicler, Wiener captures the rings of fire and skills required, and that came to the fore, in shaping a future democratic South Africa in just 14 days in 2024.

Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn

Then, in 29 days, parties that appeared to be at each other's throats thrashed out a deal while the clock ticked.

Forceps delivery

While the Government of National Unity (GNU) might have been delivered "with forceps" - as Helen Zille described the moment - it happened during a 15-minute "comfort break" fortuitously demanded by the EFF's Floyd Shivambu as the swearing-in of the new government was under way.

Shivambu is, in a way, the obstetrician/birth doula who helped deliver the GNU to South Africa.

What is so unexpected and delightful to learn in Wiener's book - perhaps because...

Read the full story on Daily Maverick.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2025 Daily Maverick. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 90 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.