EDITORIAL: Time to grow up

Quietly, five members of Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party took their oath of office as members of the National Council of Provinces last Saturday. This was a day after the party’s representatives in the National Assembly boycotted the swearing-in ceremony in the vain hope that the seventh parliament would be inquorate.

Simultaneously, this week, after being denied direct access to the Constitutional Court, it took its grievance to the electoral court. The complaint, without proof, is that it lost votes to other parties because of irregularities by the election management authority.

Its clumsy tactics in managing coalition talks have already cost it a chance to form and run the provincial government in KwaZulu-Natal, where it polled an impressive 45% of all votes cast.

Parliament starts its business in earnest next week. So it is not too late for the new party to change its mind and have its MPs take up their seats.

The MK has sufficient legal avenues to ventilate its gripes. Indeed, it is welcome to pursue its unhappiness through appropriate channels such as the high court and the electoral court, as it has done.

However, it will have to box cleverly if it wants to be taken seriously as the official opposition. With the DA joining the government — at national and provincial levels — the MK party is poised to become the main opposition party at national and provincial governments. This is a huge responsibility.