The th!nc Foundation

This edited version of this article was published by the CITY PRESS: 10 May 2009 The 2009 national elections results have not only redefined the South African political landscape but also laid the basis for the fracturing of existing paradigms of intergovernmental relations. The intergovernmental relations honeymoon that was ‘oiled’ by an almost monolithic governance script determined through intra-party dealings appears to have waned with the queues that renewed current political mandates. The political arrangements yielded by the provincial ruling/opposition party dichotomy are now poised to create an intergovernmental relations excitement never seen and experienced in our shores. The resuscitation of ‘fight back’, ‘rooi-gevaar’ and potentially ‘swaart gevaar’ through euphemisms like ‘stop Zuma’ and ‘the two thirds majority scare’ are now part of our 2009 elections sloganeering history. The degree to which these have defined the character of our opposition politics and by extension t...