The leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) said his party remains committed to being part of the nation’s coalition government despite ongoing wrangling over key policies and legislation, and has no intention of walking away.

“We’re not going to leave the government of national unity,” and that view is shared by the DA’s entire top leadership, John Steenhuisen said in an interview in Bloomberg’s Johannesburg offices on Friday. “I think it can survive and I think it should survive.”

The 10-party coalition was established in June last year, a month after elections in which the African National Congress (ANC) relinquished the parliamentary majority it had held since apartheid ended in 1994.

The ANC and the DA, its two biggest members, have sparred over the adoption of contentious land-expropriation, health insurance and education legislation, and most recently the National Treasury’s proposal to hike value-added tax — all of which raised questions about the alliance’s durability.

Tensions escalated this month, when the ANC enlisted the backing of parties that aren’t part of the coalition to pass the fiscal framework — legislation that underpins the budget — after the DA withheld its support. The DA then filed a lawsuit contesting the adoption of the legislation on procedural grounds.

On Thursday, the Treasury backed down, saying it would scrap the planned VAT hike, cut spending to fill a R75-billion gap in the budget over the next three years, and seek to settle the court case with the DA.

While the saga illustrated the need for the so-called government of national unity to be reset and for it to adopt more effective dispute-resolution mechanisms, retaining the alliance in its current form would ensure there was political stability and remains the best option for governing the country, said Steenhuisen, who also serves as agriculture minister.

“If the ANC wants us out, they must kick us out and they must then deal with the consequences from a markets perspective, but also from a political perspective,” he said. If the DA does exit, then “every single issue will be subject to the same wrangling as the budget” and the very slim majority the ANC could cobble together with smaller parties would make it difficult for it to pass legislation and effect reforms, he added.

Steenhuisen urged the government to focus on firing up the economy, which the International Monetary Fund expects to grow just 1% this year, well short of the Treasury’s projections.

The DA’s proposals include comprehensive spending and regulatory reviews, and bringing in private investors to help run the nation’s inefficient ports.

“You’ve got to look at economic growth,” Steenhuisen said. “If we don’t, we’re back here in February next year with negative growth, not enough money to do what needs to be done.”